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SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 



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SKETCHES 

OP 

CENTRAL ASIA. 

ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS 

ON 

MY TEAVELS, ADVENTURES, 



AND ON THE 



ETHNOLOGY OF CENTRAL ASIA. 



/ BY 

ARMINIUS VAMBERY, 



PE,0:FESS0R of oriental LANGUAaSS IN THE 
UNIVERSITY OF PESTH 



PHILADELPHIA : 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

Wm. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, 

PALL MALL,. LONDON. 



1868. 

\^All rights irscrved.] 



?5 



C! 




10 
15 
47 



\^ 



Lewis and Son, Printers, Swan Buildings, Moorgate Street. 



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PREFACE. 



In the revieAVS of my " Travels in " Central Asia," 
which have issued from the European and American 
press, I have generally been reproached with scanti- 
ness of details and scrappiness of treatment; — in a 
word, with havmg said much less than I could have 
said about my journey from the Bosphorus to Samar- 
kand, — so rich in varied adventures and experiences. 

Now, I will not deny that such a charge has not 
been quite unfairly levelled against me. 

While I was writing my memoirs, during the first 
three months of my stay in London, after my year- 
long wanderings in Asia, 1 had very great trouble in 
accustommg myself to the idea of being firmly settled 
down. I always kept fancying myself bound on the 
morrow to pack up and extend my travels with the 
caravan: hence my irresolution and hasty procedure. 
Moreover, I was quite a stranger in the douiain of 
travelling, and deemed it my duty now to keep some- 



VI PEEFACE. 

thing back for mere decency ; anon to leave out some- 
thing else, as of inferior interest. Hence many an 
episode was left mitouched, many a picture remained 
but a feeble sketch. 

To make up for this defect — if sparingness in words 
be really a defect — I have written the following pages. 
They contam only supplementary papers, partly about 
my own adventures, partly on the manners and rare 
characteristics of the Central Asiatic peoples, linked 
together in no particular connection. It would natu- 
rally have been better to offer these pages m the place 
of the former volume ; and yet the slightest notice of 
a country so little known to us as Turkestan, which 
poHtical questions will soon bring into the front of 
passing questions, will always have its uses; and 



"meglio tardi che mai." 



Pesth, 

2nd December, 1867. 



A. V. 



CONTENTS. 



FAOE 

CHAPTEE I. 
Dervislies and Hadjis ........ 1 

CHAPTEE II. 

Eecollections of my Dervish Life 22 

CHAPTEE III. 

Amongst the Turkomans ... .... 44 

CHAPTEE IV. 

The Caravan in the Desert 62 

CHAPTEE V. 

The Tent and its Inhabitants 75 

CHAPTEE 71. 

The Court of Khiva 87 

CHAPTEE VII. 
Joy and Sorrow 98 

CHAPTEE VIII. 

House, Food, and Dress 114 

CHAPTEE IX. 
From Khiva to Kungrat and back 127 



VIU CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

CHAPTEE X. 
My Tartar .150 

CHAPTEE XI. 

The Eound of Life in Bokhara 166 



CHAPTEE XII. 
Bokliara, the Head Quarters of Mohamedanism .... 186 

CHAPTEE XIII. 

The Slave Trade and Slave Life in Central Asia .... 205 

CHAPTEE XIV. 

Productive Power of the Three Oasis-Countries of Turkestan . 231 

CHAPTEE XV. 

On the Ancient History of Bokhara . . . . . . 257 

CHAPTEE XVI. 

Ethnographical Sketch of the Turanian and Iranian Eaces of 

Central Asia 282 

CHAPTEE XVII. 
Iranians 313 

CHAPTEE XVIII. 

Literature in Central Asia 339 

CHAPTEE XIX. 

Eivalry between Eussia and England in Central Asia .... 379 



SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. 



CHAPTER I. 

DERVISHES AND HADJIS. 

The dervish is the veritable personification of Eastern 
life. Idleness, fanaticism, and slovenliness, are the fea- 
tures which in him are regarded as virtues, and which 
everywhere are represented by him as such. Idleness 
is excused by allusion to human impotence ; fanaticism 
explained as enthusiasm in religion; and slovenliness 
justified by the uselessness of poor mortals in struggling 
against fate. If the superiority of European civiliza- 
tion over that of the East was not so clearly established, 
I should almost be tempted to envy a dervish, who, 
clad in tatters and conversing in a corner of some 
ruined building, shows, by the twinkling in his eye, 
the happiness he enjoys. What a serenity is depicted 
in that face ; what a placidity in all his actions ; what 
a complete contrast there is between this picture and 
that presented by our European civilization! In my 
disguise as a dervish it was chiefly this unnatural com- 

1 



2 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

posure which made me nervous, and in the imitation 
of which I made, of course, the greatest mistakes. I 
shall never forget one day at Herat, when, after reflect- 
ing on the happiness of the early termination of the 
painful mask I had been wearing for so many months, 
I suddenly jumped up from my seat, and in a some- 
what excited state began to pace up and down the old 
ruin which gave me shelter. A few minutes after- 
wards I perceived that a crowd of passers by had col- 
lected at the door, and that I was the object of general 
astonishment. Seeing my mistake, I blushingly re- 
sumed my seat. Soon afterwards several people came 
up to ask me what was the matter with me, whether 
I was well, &c. The good people thought I was de- 
ranged; for, to oriental notions, a man must be out of 
his senses if, without necessity or a special object in 
view, he suddenly leaves his seat to pace up and down 
a room. 

As the dervish represents the general character, so 
he does the different peoples of the East. It is true, 
Mahomedanism enforces the dogma : "El Islam milleti 
wahidun " — all Islamites are one nation ; but the origin 
and home of the different sects are easily recognised. 
Bektashi, Mewlewi, and Rufai, are principally natives 
of Turkey; because Bektash, the enthusiastic founder 
of the Janissaries, Moola Djelaleddm Rumi, the great 
poet of the Mesnevi, lived, and are buried in Turkey ; 
the Kadrie and Djelali are most frequently met with 
in Arabia; the Oveisy, and Nurbakhshi NimetuUah 



DERVISHES AND HADJIS. 6 

in Persia; the Khilali and Zahibi m India; and the 
Nakishbendi and Sofi Islam in Central Asia.* The 
members of the different fraternities are bound together 
by very close ties; apprentices (Murid) and assistants 
(Khalfa) have to yield imphcit obedience to the chief 
(Pir), who has an unlimited power over the life and pro- 
perty of his brethren. But these fraternities do not m the 
least trouble themselves about secret political or social 
objects, as is sometimes asserted in Europe by enthu- 
siastic travellers, who have even discovered Freemasons 
amongst the Bedouin tribes of the Great Desert. The 
dervishes are the monks of Islamism; and the spirit 
which created and sustains them is that of religious 
fanaticism, and they differ from each other only by 
the manner in which they demonstrate their enthu- 
siasm. For instance; whilst one of these rehgious 
orders commands constant pilgrimages to the tombs 
of saints, the other lays do"svn stringent rules for re- 
flection on divine infinity and the insignificance of our 
existence. A third compels his votaries to occupy 
themselves day and night with repeating the name of 
of God (Zikr) and hjmans (Telkin); and it cannot 
surprise us to learn that the greater number of a com- 
pany which has continually been calling out with all its 



* Sofi Islam is a sect which originated about thirty years ago. Its founder, 
a Tadjik from Belkh, was desirous of opposing the ever-increasing influence of 
the Nakishbendi. In this fraternity prevails the principle of communism and 
blood relationship. The Sofi Islamites wear a cap trimmed with fur, and are 
most frequently met with this side of the Oxus, as far as Herat, and also 
amongst the Turkomans. 



4 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

might : " Ja hn ! Ja hakk ! La illahi ilia hu ! are seized 
with delirium tremens. The orthodox call this condi- 
tion Medjzub; z.e., carried away by divme love, or 
to be in ecstacy. A person to whom such a fortunate 
event happens, for as such it is regarded, is envied by 
everybody; and as long as it lasts, the sick and the 
maimed, and barren women,, try to get in his imme- 
diate presence, taking hold of his dress, — as touching 
it is supposed to have healing powers. 

What the dervishes are able to do during the ecstacy 
caused by Zikr^ I had once an opportunity of witness- 
ing in Samarkand. In Dehbid, close to the tomb of 
the Makhdun Aazam, one of these howhng companies 
had grouped themselves around the Pir (chief) of that 
district. At first they contented themselves with re- 
peating the formula in a natural tone of voice, and 
almost in measured time. The chief was lost in the 
deepest thought; all eyes and ears were fixed upon 
him. ; and every motion of his hand, and every breath 
he drew, was audible, and encouraged his followers to 
utter wilder and louder ejaculations. At last he seemed 
to awake from his sleep-like reflections, and as soon as 
he raised his head all the dervishes jumped up from 
their seats like possessed beings. The circle was broken, 
and the different members began to dance in undulat- 
ing motions ; but hardly did the chief stand upon his 
feet than the enthusiastic dancers became so terribly 
excited that I, who had to imitate all then' wild antics, 
became almost frightened. They were flying about. 



DEEVISHES AND HADJIS. 5 

constantly dancing, right and left, hither and thither, 
some leaving the soft meadow and gettmg upon the 
rough stones, constantly dancing, till the blood began 
to run freely from their feet. Still they kept on their 
mad excitement, till most of them fell fainting to the 
ground. 

In a country like the East, where such social rela- 
tions exist, and where we meet with such amusing 
extremes, the dervish or beggar, though placed at the 
very bottom of the social scale, often enjoys as much 
consideration as the prince who reigns over millions 
and disposes of immense treasures. Man, an unresist- 
ing plaything in the powerful hand of Fate, can, if 
Destuiy wills it, be transported from one extreme to 
the other, of which history furnishes us with numerous 
instances ; and as in fiction we see with pleasure the two 
antipodes — the king. Shah-it Keda, and the beggar, 
brought into close propinquity — even so we often find 
a ragged and dirty dervish, covered with vermin, sit- 
ting on the same carpet with a magnificently-dressed 
prince, and engaged with him in famihar conversation, 
nay, often drinking with him out of the same cup. 
European travellers view such a tete-a-tete with sur- 
prise, and even sometimes with a feehng of amusement; 
but in the East it is considered as quite natural. For, 
says the oriental moralist, the king must see in the 
glaring contrast between him and his neighbour the 
vanity of earthly splendour, and banish from his mind 
all feehng of pride; while the dervish discovers be- 



6 SKETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. 

neath the pompous dress of the prince a mere mortal 
man, and muidful of the vanity of sublunary things, 
laughs at the farce of life. 

Though perfectly conscious of theu" relative position, 
these two extremes exhibit, when they meet, an ad- 
mirable degree of toleration and indulgence. The 
dervish, who, when received in private, behaves with 
the freedom and unconstraint of an intimate friend, 
never forgets on public occasions that he is the poorest 
of the poor. The man of rank suffers from him what 
to any other person would appear insupportable. At 
Kerki, the governor of the province had a dervish in 
his palace, who, in conformity with a precept of his 
order, had the agreeable office of crying aloud unmter- 
ruptedly, from sunset till break of day: Ya hu! ya 
hakk! La ilia hu!* and that with the voice of a 
Stentor. As soon as darkness prevailed, and the busy 
hum of public life had become silent, the melancholy 
and monotonous exclamations became more and more 
audible, not only in the palace itself, but to a consider- 
able extent around it. That his devotions disturbed 
many in their sleep, may be easily imaguied. Never- 
theless, the governor, notwithstanding the entreaties 
of his own family, did not venture to make any objec- 
tion to this proceeding, and the dervish continued his 
vociferations every night as long as he sojourned in 
Kerki. As I lodged in the vicinity of the palace, I 

* Yes, it is he ! it is the righteous one ! there is no Q-od but he j are the 
usual forms of prayer which occur in the Zikr. 



DERVISHES AND HADJIS. 7 

enjoyed my share of this nightly concert; and as the 
voice of the enthusiastic bawler became towards the 
approach of dawn weaker and weaker, I was enabled 
to calculate from it the distance of daybreak without 
stepping out of the dark cell in. which I lay. 

We may say, however, that we nowadays very seldom 
meet with a dervish in. the strict sense of the word; 
that is, a man who, renouncing from inward conviction 
earthly goods and worldly comforts, is desirous only 
of obtaining experience of life and devoting himself to 
the practice of religious duties : such a man, in a word, 
as the poet Saadi is represented to have been. Those 
who embrace this vocation are either unprincipled and 
lazy fellows, or professed beggars, who, under the 
cloak of poverty, collect treasures, and when they are 
sufficiently enriched often adopt some lucrative trade. 
This is particularly the case in Persia. So long as 
Fortune is favourable to them they lead a life of osten- 
tatious magnificence, and forget how transitory all is 
in this world. But should he be overtaken by adver- 
sity, then he retires to some modest corner, rails at the 
vain pursuits of men, and, inflated with pride, cries 
out : Men dervish em ; I am a dervish. 

The dervishes of India, and particularly those of 
Cashmere, are throughout the East pre-eniinent among 
their Mahometan brethren for cunning, secret arts, 
forms of exorcism, &c. These fellows impose most 
impudently on the credulity of the people in Persia 
and Central Asia, and even men of wit and under- 



8 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

standing sometimes fall into their snares ; for, wherever 
such a Cashmere dervish appears, gifted as he generally 
is with a noble figure, striking features, bright eloquent 
eyes, and long dark flo^vmg hair, he is sure of success. 
The Mahometans of India and the adjoining eastern 
countries have always been celebrated in the Islamite 
world for their supernatural gifts. As soon as such a 
travelling saint arrives in a Mahometan country, he is 
entreated to cure dangerous maladies, to exorcise ghosts, 
or to pomt out where hidden treasures are buried ; for, 
although those arts are forbidden by the Koran, they 
appear everywhere as the most zealous Mahometans. 
Count Gobineau, in his work, " Trois Ans dans 1' Asie," 
tells us of an excellent trick, which an alchemist from 
Cashmere played a gold-seeking prince in Teheran. A 
similar trick was played on the brother of the reigning 
Khan of Khiva, who, wanting to have all his saddles and 
bridles converted into gold, was cheated in a most ridicu- 
lous manner. But they are sometimes so devoid of con- 
science as to rob the poorest man of his last penny. 
In Teheran, a Hadji, lately arrived from Central Asia, 
told me, with tears in his eyes, the following story. 
As, said he, I had heard much in Meshed of the fr'e- 
quent robberies that occurred on the road to Teheran, 
I and my companion were anxious to know what would 
be the best way to conceal our httle capital, which was 
to defray our expenses to the holy grave of the Prophet. 
This money was the savings of five hard years, and 
thou knowest how difficult it is to travel without money 



DEKVISHES AND HADJIS. 9 

in this land of heretics. Next to us in the caravanserai 
at Meshed there lodged a pious Ishan (sheikh) from 
Cashmere; to him we communicated our fears, and 
were delighted when he offered, by means of a certain 
form of prayer, to secure our money against all attacks 
of robbers. He invited us to follow him to the mosque 
of Iman Riza : there he bade us perform the usual ab- 
lutions. We then placed our money in his lap, and 
after he had breathed on it several times he put it 
with his own hands into our purses, wrapped them up 
m seven sheets of paper, and then strictly enjoined us 
not to open them till, on our arrival at Teheran, we 
had performed our devotions three times in the mosque. 
It is now six weeks smce we left Meshed ; and imagme 
our fright, when yesterday, after the thh-d prayer, 
we opened our purses and found in them, instead of 
our dear ducats, nothing but heavy reddish sand. 
The poor fellows uttered bitter complaints and seemed 
almost to have lost their wits. The cunning rogue 
from Cashmere had, while pronouncing the blessing, 
changed the money without being perceived by the 
simple Tartars, who continued then' journey to Tehe- 
ran m the perfect persuasion of the efficacy of the 
ceremony, — a persuasion which they now found had 
cost them dear. 

It is the same with dervishism as with all the other 
oriental institutions, customs and manners; the more 
we penetrate towards the East, the greater is the purity 
with which they have been preserved. In Persia the 



10 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

dervishes play a much more important part than ui 
Turkey; and in Central Asia, isolated as it has been 
from the rest of the world for centuries, this fraternity 
is still in full vigour, and exercises a great influence 
upon society. In my " Travels," I have frequently 
alluded to the position occupied by the Ishan or 
secular priests in Central Asia. Their influence may 
be called a fortunate one, contrasted with the fearful 
tyranny existing iu those countries. This is the reason 
why every one occupies hunself with religion; every 
one tries to pass himself ofi" as a worker of miracles 
(Ehh Keramet) ; or, if he fails in. that, he endeavours 
to be recognised as a sauit (veli ullah . . .) Those who 
make the interpretation of the sacred writings their 
busmess are great rivals of the Ishans^ who, by the 
mysticism by which they surround themselves, enjoy 
a large share of popular esteem. The native of Central 
Asia, like the wildest child of Arabia, is more easily 
imposed upon by magic formulas and similar hocus- 
pocus than by books. He may dispense with the ser- 
vices of a Mollah, but he cannot do without a Ishan^ 
whose blessing {fatiha) or breath (nefes) is required 
when he sets out on one of his predatory expeditions, and 
upon which he looks as a talismanic power, when mov- 
ing about his herds, his tent, or the wilds of the desert. 
After the Ishans, the most interesting class are the 
mendicant dervishes {Kalenter)^* which the Kirguese 

* Kalentor is a corruption of the old Persian Kelanterrrthe greater. In 
eastern Persia the title is stUI given to the judges of villages. 



DEEVISHES AND HADJIS. 11 

and Turkomans call Kucldush* or Divani (insane). 
In the whole of the great deserts which stretch from 
the eastern bomidaries of China to the Caspian Sea, it 
is only these people, in their ragged dress, who are 
able to move unmolested. They do not take any notice 
of the differences of tribe or family, and the mighty 
Avords, Yaghi or II (friend or enemy) have to them no 
meaning. In travelhng along they join whomsoever 
they meet, be it a peaceful caravan or band of robbers. 
The dervishes who travel through Kirguese or Turko- 
man steppes are generally this class of people, who 
form a strong inclmation to do nothmg, follow a trade 
which throughout the East is considered respectable, 
viz., that of a mendicant. All they have to acquire 
is a few prayers and a certain power of mimicry, with 
which the chiromantic feats are performed ; and I have 
never seen a nomad who has not been moved when he 
fomid himself in the close presence of one of those 
long-hau'ed, bare-headed, and bare -footed dervishes, 
who, with his fiery eyes, stared hard at the son of the 
desert, and whilst shaking his Keshkul f howled a wild 

The arrival of one of these fakirs in a lonely group 
of tents is regarded as a joyful event, or almost a festi- 

* Kuddus 13 derived from Eud, to become mad. Thus, the Arabs call the 
dervishes Medjaun, i.e., insane. 

t Keshkul is a vessel formed of half a cocoa nut, — the vade mecum of the 
dervishes, — in which he plunges all the food he has collected by begging, 
whether dry or fluid, sweet or sour. Such a dish of tuUi frutti would but ill 
sviit our gastronomers ; and yet how delicious it tasted to me after a long day's 
march. 



12 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

val; it is of especial importance in the eyes of the 
women ; and the time of his arrival is differently in- 
terpreted. Early in the morning signifies the happy 
birth of a camel or a horse ; at noon a quarrel between 
husband and wife ; and in the evening a good prospect 
of marriage to the marriageable daughters. The der- 
vish is generally taken in hand by the women, and is 
well supphed with the best things the tent contains, 
in hopes that he may be tempted to produce from be- 
neath his battered dress some glass beads, or other tahs- 
man. Alms, which amongst the nomads seldom consist 
of money, are rarely denied him; and he often receives 
an old carpet, a few handfuls of camel hair or wool, or 
an old garment. He may also stop with the family 
for days, and move about -with it without his presence 
becoming a burden. If the dervish possesses musical 
talent, i.e.^ able to sing a few songs and accompany 
himself on the two stringed instrument called dutara, 
he is made much of, and has the greatest difficulty in 
getting away fi:om the hospitable host. 

It is very seldom that dervishes are insulted or ill- 
treated ; this, however, is said to be the case amongst 
the Turkomans, whose rapacity knows no bounds, and 
prompts them to commit incredible acts of cruelty. 
A dervish from Bokhara, of robust figure and dark 
curly hair, whom I met at Majrmene, told me that a 
Tekke- Turkoman, prompted by the thirty ducats which 
his athletic figure promised to fetch in the slave market, 
made him a prisoner to sell him a few days afterwards. 



DERVISHES AND HADJIS. 13 

" I pretended," my colleague continued, "to be quite 
unconcerned, and repeated the Zikr whilst shaking 
my iron chains. The time was fast approachin'g 
when I was to be taken to the market, when sud- 
denly the wife of the robber of my hberty and person 
was taken ill, and prevented him from starting. He 
seemed to see in this the finger of God, and began to 
be pensive, when his favourite horse, refusing to eat 
his food, showed signs of iUness." This was enough. 
The robber was so frightened that he removed the 
chains of his prisoner, and returned to him the thmgs 
he had robbed him of, begging him to leave his tent 
as soon as possible. Whilst a Turkoman impatiently 
awaited the departure of the ominous beggar, the 
latter fumbled about his dress, and pretended that he 
had lost a comb which his chief had given him as a 
tahsman on the road, and without which he could not 
go a single step. The nomad returned in great haste 
to the place where the plunder had been kept, and as 
the comb did not turn up he became still more fright- 
ened, and promised the dervish the price of twenty 
combs if he would only take a single step beyond the 
boundary of his tent. The cunning bush-rite saw he 
was master of the situation ; he pretended to be incon- 
solable about the lost property, and declared that he 
now would have to remain for years in the tent. 
Imagine the confusion of the deceived and supersti- 
tious robber! Like a madman he ran about asking 
his neighbour for advice. Formal negotiations were 



14 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

now commenced with the dervish, to whom, finally, a 
horse, a dress, and ten ducats were presented, to make 
up for the loss of the comb, and on condition that he 
should leave a tent whose proprietor will probably 
think twice before he ventures again upon molesting a 
travelling dervish. 

Besides the dervishes who, as physicians, miracle- 
working saints, or harmless vagabonds, are wandering 
about in Central Asia, there is a class called " Khanka 
neshin" or convent dwellers, who always wish to 
aj)pear as the poorest, and are without doubt the most 
contemptible fellows in the world. Generally speak- 
ing they are opium eaters, who by their excessive 
filth, skeleton-like body, and frightfully distorted fea- 
tures, present a most repulsive appearance. The worst 
is that they do not confine themselves to practising 
this fearful vice themselves, but with a singular per- 
sistency endeavour to make converts amongst all 
classes; and, supported by the want of spirituous 
drinks, they succeed but too frequently m their wicked 
attempts. What surprised me most was that these 
wretched people were regarded as eminently religious, 
of whom it was thought that from their love to God 
and the Prophet they had become mad, and stupefied 
themselves in order that in their excited state they 
might be nearer the Bemgs whom they loved so well. 

Speakmg of dervishes we may mention a class of 
hypocrites who, under the pretence of carrying out 
sacred vows, indulge in their desire to travel, and after 



DEEVISHES AND HADJIS. 15 

their return assume, under the title of Hadji (Pilgrims) 

authority and a good social position. The Koran says, 

" Hidji ala heiti min isti Itaatun sehila " — Wander to 

my house (Kaaba) if circumstances permit. These 

" circumstances " are reduced to the folio whig seven 

conditions by the commentators. The pilgrimage 

must be undertaken, 1st, — With sufficient money for 

travelling expenses; 2nd, — In bodily health; 3rd, — 

In an unmarried state; 4th, — Without leaving debts 

behind ; 5th, — In times of peace ; 6th, — Overland and 

without danger; and, 7th, — By persons who have 

reached the age of puberty. That our good Tartars 

ill-observe these conditions wiU be evident to all who 

have some idea about the comitries situated between 

Oxus and Yaxartes. In Persia people go to Kerbela, 

Meshed or Mekka, only when sufficient funds enable 

them to do it comfortably. In Central Asia, on the 

contrary, it is always the poorest class who undertakes 

pilgrimages. A certain taste for adventure, coupled 

with rehgious enthusiasm, are the two motives which 

prompt the mhabitants of Central Asia to start from 

the remote east for the tomb of their Prophet. True, 

they do not suffer any material losses, for a beggar's 

bag is a money bag ; but they frequently lose what is 

most precious to them — their life; as every year at 

least one-third of the pilgrims from Turkestan die 

from exposure to the climate. 

This sacred or profane desire to travel braves all 
danger; this vague thought of tearing himself aAvay 



16 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

from his family, and friends, and countrymen, to see 
the wide world, surrounds the Hadji mth a certain 
poetry. I have lived weeks with my companions, and 
yet it always interested me to behold them, palm staff 
in hand, as a sacred memento of Arabia, vigorously 
making their way through the deep sand or mud. 
They were returning happily to their homes ; but how 
many did I meet who only conunenced their long and 
tedious journey? and yet they were equally happy. 
On my road from Samarkand to Teheran I had as a 
companion a native of Chinese Tartary, who, in total 
ignorance of the route he had to take, asked me every 
evening, even when we were yet at Meshed, whether 
we should see to-morrow, or at the farthest after to- 
morrow, the minarets of Mekka. The poor fellow had 
no idea how much he would have to endure before he 
reached his destination. However, this should not 
surprise us when we remember that during the time 
of the crusades so many honest Teutons undertook a 
pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and after two or' three 
days' journey hoped to behold the walls of Jerusalem.* 
The routes to Arabia adopted by the pious Tartars 
are the followmg, viz. : — 1. Yarkend, Kilian, Tibet, 
Kashmir, f 2. Through Southern Siberia, Kazan and 

* See Noesselt's " Gescliichte fur Tochter schulen," who also states that 
many pilgrims, ignorant of the road, allowed themselves to be led by a frightened 
goose which ran before them. 

t From Yarkend to Kilian on the boundary line are three days' journey, 
from there, by way of Tagarma and Kadun, to Tibet, twenty days, and thence 
to Kashmir fifteen days. 



DERVISHES AND HADJIS. 17 

Constantinople. 3. Through Afghanistan and India 
to Djedda. 4. Through Persia, Bagdad, and Damas- 
cus. ISTone of these routes is a comfortable one, and 
the amount of danger to be incurred is very much de- 
pendent upon the season of the year and the pohtical 
state of the countries through which they pass. The 
travellers form themselves in larger or smaller com- 
panies, and elect a chief (Tchaush) from amongst 
themselves, who also fills amongst them the office of 
Imam, (the person who first says the prayers to be re- 
peated by the rest,) and who enjoys a considerable 
superiority over his companions. A visit to the 
Kaaba and the tomb of the Prophet (which may be 
paid at any season) is not so much the culminatmg 
point of the whole pilgrimage as the ascent of Mount 
Arafat. This can be made only once a year, viz., on 
the Kurban festival, (10th Zil Hidje,) which is nothing 
more or less than the sacrifice of Abraham and Isaac 
dramatized. AU those who have taken part in this 
festival and have joined in the cry, "Lebeik AUah ! " — 
Command, Oh God," (in allusion to Abraham's im- 
phcit obedience,) are regarded as genuine Hadjis. 
This cry of " Lebeik ! Lebeik ! " uttered at the most 
solemn moment of the whole pilgrimage, seems also to 
have the deepest impression upon the pilgrim himself. 
My travelling companions, whenever they became ex- 
cited or were m a happy mood of mind, always alluded 
to it; and the stiUness of the Tartar deserts was 

2 



18 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

often broken by this memento of the stony districts of 
Arabia. 

However painful and heartrending separation from 
home may be when so long and dangerous a journey 
has to be undertaken, the joy which the Hadjis ex- 
perienced on their return fully counterbalances it. 
Friends and relations, informed of his near arrival, go 
out to meet them several days in advance. Hymns 
are sung, and tears of joy are shed when the Hadji 
makes his entry into his native place. Every one 
wants to embrace him, to touch him, for the atmos- 
phere of holy places still surrounds him, the dust of 
Mekka and Medina still covers his garments. In Cen- 
tral Asia the Hadji is held in much greater esteem 
than in any other Mohammedan country. It has cost 
him much to obtain his dignity, but he is amply re- 
paid. Respected and supported by his feUow citizens 
he is better protected against the tyraim^y of the 
Government than any other citizen. The title of a 
" Hadji " is a patent of nobility, which, dm'ing his life- 
time, he parades on his seal, after death on his tomb- 
stone. 

The Hadjis, of course such as are not mere beggars, 
often transact, during their pious pilgrimage, a little 
commercial business. "5em tidjared hem ziaret^ — 
" Commerce and pilgrimage together " are not allowed 
by their rehgion; but nobody seems to suffer any 
pricks of conscience in taking to his co-religionist in 



DEEVISHES AND HADJIS. 19 

Arabia a few articles from distant Turkomania. The 
products of Bokhara and other holy places of Central 
Asia are m high esteem amongst the people of Arabia ; 
besides, every one wishes to show a Hadji some favour, 
and is easily induced to pay double the value for any 
article offered. This small trade is carried on be- 
tween the eastermnost point of Islamitic Asia to the 
Galata bridge of Constantmople. Amongst the crowd 
of that famous capital one often sees a Tartar, whose 
features contrast as strangely with the rest of the 
population as the colours of the thin silk kerchief differ 
from those of our European manufactm-e. Fine ladies 
seldom become purchasers of such articles, but old 
matrons are frequently seen, inspired by feelings of 
piety, paying a good price for them, pressmg them re- 
peatedly to their faces and forehead while repeating a 
loud " Allahum u Sella" and continuing their walk. 

That the successful sale of the exported articles 
leads to the importation of similar merchandize needs 
no confirmation. No Hadji leaves the holy places 
without making some purchases. At Mekka he lays 
in a stock of scents, dates, rosaries and combs, but 
especially water from the sacred well called Zemzem.* 
In Jamba and Djedda are bought European goods; 
these go by the name of Mali Istambul — " Stamboul 

* Zemzem is the name of a famous well on the road, of miraculous power, 
the water of which is exported in small vessels to all Islamite countries, as a 
single drop of it taken just at the moment of death frees from 500 years of 
purgatory. The origin of the well is ascribed to Ismail, who, after being left 
behind by Hagar, stamped his little foot and made the weU spring up. 



20 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

Goods;" as the unbelieving Franks must not obtain 
credit for anything, and they consist of penknives, 
scissors, needles, thimbles, &c. Aleppo and Damascus 
enjoy the reputation of supplying the best misvak, a 
fibrous root, used as tooth brushes by aU pious Mos- 
lems. In Bagdad are bought a hirka, made of camel's 
hair, and of superior quality at this place, as it is this 
kuid of garment which the Prophet is said to have 
worn next his skin. Finally, in Persia, ink, powder 
and pens made of canes are purchased. In Central 
Asia all these articles are great curiosities, and they 
are paid for handsomely, partly from necessity, partly 
from rehgious motives. 

Generally speaking a caravan of Hadjis, I mean one 
whose character has been well inquired into, are the 
best travelling companions one can have in Central 
Asia, or rather in the whole of the east, provided one 
can manage to agree with them. With regard to the 
travelling necessaries the Hadji is well supplied, and it 
was always surprising to me to see how a man who 
had only one poor donkey he could call his o^vn, could 
make a display of a separate tea-service* (a la Tartar,) 
Pilou-apparatus, and carpet when arrived at the station 
at which we halted. Nobody is more clever than a 
Hadji in negotiating, be the people he has to deal with 
believers or unbelievers, nomads or agricultural tribes. 

* The tea service consists of a can-like vessel made of copper, and is, next to 
the Koran, the most indispensable vade mecum of every travelling Tartar. 
Even the poorest beggar carries it, suspended by the handle, about vrith him. 



DERVISHES AND HADJIS. 21 

A Hadji may be converted into anything, he beiag 
thoroughly penetrated by the principle "/Sz fueris Ro- 
maeJ'' Instead of being cast down and gloomy, as his 
ragged exterior would lead us to suppose, he is of a 
merry disposition, and durmg the long marches the 
greatest saint and miracle-worker occasionally indulges 
m a profane joke. The comicality of' these generally 
serious faces has often made me forget the privations 
which I was myself undergoing. 



CHAPTER II. 

RECOLLECTIONS OF MY DERYISH LIFE. 

On the evening of the 27th of March, 1863, my excel- 
lent friend, the Turkish ambassador in Teheran, gave 
m.e a farewell supper, at which all declared — ^to inspire 
me, of course with fear, and divert me from mj adven- 
turous undertaking, — that I was for the last time in 
my life to enjoy European food in the European man- 
ner. The handsome dining room at the residence of 
the ambassador was brilliantly lighted, the choicest 
viands were served, and the choicest wines handed 
round; for the intention was clear, — ^to give me a 
strong dose of reminiscences of European comforts on 
the difficult expedition before me. My friends were 
for ever scrutmizmg my features, to discover whether 
my outward appearance might not betray some trace 
of inward excitement. But they were very much mis- 
taken. I had ensconced myself comfortably in the 
velvet arm chau^, which had been brought thither from 
the distant land of the Franks; the wme had tinged 
my face with the same colom^ as the fez which covered 



RECOLLECTIONS OF DERVISH LIFE. 23 

my head. A pious dervish and wine — ^what a fright- 
ful antithesis ! To-night, however, I must transgress, 

the penance will be a long one, whether or no 

Twenty-four hours later, in the evening of the 28th 
of March, I was in the midst of my company of beggars 
on the road to Lar, in a half-dilapidated mud hut, 
called Dagaru. The rain was pouring in torrents. 
We had been pretty well wetted through during our 
day's march, so that all were anxious for shelter and a 
dry roof; and, the space being narrow, fate brought 
me the very first evening into the closest contact with 
my travelling companions. Their tattered garments, 
never very sweet-scented, and now thoroughly soaked 
with the ram, gave out the strangest evaporations ; and 
no wonder if, under such circumstances, I had no great 
desh^e to take my share out of the large wooden bowl, 
from which the starved Hadjis, splashing about with 
then" fists, were eating their supper. Moreover, hunger 
tormented me less than fatigue and my wet, ragged 
garments, to which I was as yet unaccustomed. Rolled 
up like a ball, 1 tried to get to sleep ; but this also was 
impossible, packed together as we were in such close 
quarters. Now I felt the hand, now the head of one 
of my neighbours, falling upon me ; then my ojDposite 
companion stretched out his foot, to scratch me behmd 
the ears. It required the patience of Job to defend 
myself against these unpleasant civilities; and yet I 
might have had some sleep, but for the loud snoring 
of the Tartars, and above all the loud moaning of a 



24 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

Persian muleteer, who was sadly troubled "with the 
gout. 

Fuiduig that all endeavours to close my eyes re- 
mained unsuccessful, I rose and sat upright m the 
midst of this mass of people, who were l}Tng about m 
the most utter confusion. The rain kept falling, and, 
as I looked out uito the dark and gloomy night, my 
thoughts returned to the difference m my position only 
twenty-four hours before, and the sumptuous farewell 
supper at the splendid Turldsh embassy. The whole 
scene appeared to me not milike a di*amatic representa- 
tion of "Kino- and Beo-o-ar," m which I acted the chief 
pai't. The bitter feeluig of reahty, however, made 
little unpression. I myself was the author of tliis 
sudden metamorphosis, and I had prepared my fate 
for myself. 

The hard task of self-control lasted but a few days. 
As tar as all outward pecuharities were concerned, I 
soon became familiar with the habitual as well as phy- 
sical attributes of dervishism, such as dut, &c. I gave 
ni}^ better garments, which I had brought with me 
from Teheran, to a weak and sickly Hadji, an act of 
kmdness which gamed all hearts. My new uniform 
consisted of a felt jacket, which I wore next my skm 
without any shirt, and of a djubbe (upper garment) ,* 

* It. is called Jlirkai dei'vis7ia)t (the dervish cloak), which even those der- 
Tishes that are most comfortably off ai-e obhged to vrear over their otherwise 
good gai'ments. It is the symbol of poverty, aud is often composed of coimt- 
less small pieces of new patchwork, cut round the edge iu points of unequal 
length ; aud, whUo it is sewn together on the outside with thick packing thi-ead 



RECOLLECTIONS OF DERVISH LIFE. 25 

composed of innumerable pieces of stuff, and fastened 
with a cord round the loins. My feet were enveloped 
in rags, and an immense turban covered my head, 
servmg as a parasol by day and pillow by night. I 
had also, in conformity with the rest of the Hadjis, 
huno: round me a volumuious Koran ia a bao^, which 
resembled a cartridge pouch ; and, viewing myself thus, 
" en pleine parade^'' I had reason proudly to exclaim : 
" Yes, indeed, I am bom a beggar ! " 

The outer or material part of the incognito was thus 
easily assumed, but the moral part presented more 
serious difficulties than I expected. Although I had 
had the opportunity, for some years past, of studyiag 
the contrast between European and Asiatic modes of 
hfe, and the critical position in which I found myself 
made it incumbent upon me ever to be strictly on my 
guard, nevertheless, I could not avoid committing many 
glaring mistakes. The difference between Eastern and 
Western society does not consist merely ia language, 
physiognomy, and dress. We Europeans eat, driak, 
sleep, sit, and stand, nay, I feel inclined to say, laugh, 
weep, sigh, and gesticulate otherwise than Eastern 
people. These things are visible trifles, but in reahty 
difficult ones, and yet they are as nothing when com- 
pared with the effort reqmred to disguise one's feelings. 
When travelling, people are naturally of a more eager 



and large stitches, the lining often consists of silk or some other valuable mate- 
rial. It is the ne plus ultra of hypocrisy ; but long before the Romans the 
wise men of the East have said, Mundus vuli decipi — ergo decipiatur. 



26 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

and excitable temperament than in everyday life, and 
therefore it costs the European an unspeakable effort 
to conceal his curiosity, admiration, or any kind of 
emotion, when brought into intercourse with the indo- 
lent orientals, who are for ever indifferent to all and 
everything around them. Besides, the object of my 
travelling was merely to travel, whilst that of my friends 
was to reach their distant homes. My individual per- 
son excited their interest only during the first moments 
of our acquaintance, while to me they were each a 
contmual study; and it certainly can never have en- 
tered the head of any one of them that, whenever we 
laughed and joked most intimately together my mind 
would just then be doubly occupied. No one but he 
who is practically acquainted with the East, can have 
any idea of the difficulty of entering into all these 
marked differences. I had been pretty well schooled 
by a four years' residence at Constantinople ; yet there 
I played merely the part of an amateur, whilst here I 
dared not deviate even a hair's breadth from reality. 
Nay, I will make no secret of the fact, that during the 
first few days the struggle, though short, was severe, and 
that repentance and remorse seized me at every fi^esh 
difficulty. However, my mind, being stimulated by 
vanity, was in that state of excitement when everything 
had to give way before the irresistible impulse of its 
ardour ; and, supported in its triumph by a sound con- 
stitution, it was enabled to bear easily whatever might 
happen. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF DERVISH LIFE. 27 

I shudder even now when I think back of the fatigue 
I underwent durmg the first few days, and how much 
I suffered from the Avet and cold, the uncleanhness — 
which makes one's hair stand on end — and the never- 
ending, harassing worry with the fanatic Shiites, dur- 
ing our long and tedious day-marches in Mazendran, 
a part of the world of historical reputation for its bad 
roads. Sometimes it rained from early in the morning 
until late m the evening, and, whilst not a thread of 
my tattered garments remained dry, I was moreover 
obKged to wade for hours knee-deep in mud. The 
narrow mountain-path has become hollow by the wear 
of centuries, and in many places it resembles a muddy 
brook, winding along between huge fragments of pointed 
rock that have fallen from the heights above. It is a 
sheer impossibility to remain in the saddle; and, in 
order to avoid danger, the best course is to tread slowly 
and cautiously, somiding the hollows with one's foot. 
No one will doubt that, under such circumstances, we 
arrived at the station at nightfall thoroughly exhausted 
and fatigued. Fire and shelter are the chief objects 
of desire, for which the eye looks longingly around. 
They both exist in Mazendran ; but we, the Sunnitic 
beggars, had preferred, for the sake of quiet, to pass 
the night undisturbed and far from any human dwell- 
ing. A fire was kindled, to dry ourselves and our 
clothes, when the elder of our Tartar fellow-travellers 
observed, that such a proceeding would be prejudicial 
to health; and, indeed, they always preferred to dry 



28 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

themselves in another and more singular fashion. It 
is well known that, throughout the East, horse dung 
is dried and then ground into powder, to serve as 
stablmg for the horses by night. During the day it 
is exposed to the sun, either spread out or made into 
conical-shaped heaps ; and I was not a little astonished 
to see how my companions, divesting themselves en- 
tirely of their apparel, buried their soaked bodies up 
to the neck in such like poudre de santL I need not 
add, that contact with this poudre^ so well known as 
strong and stinging, cannot be very agreeable ; but its 
effects are only felt during the first quarter of an hour, 
and I can assert, from my subsequent personal expe- 
rience, that such a bed induces a most sweet and re- 
freshing sleep, however it may offend the European 
eye and sense of refinement. 

In spite of the drawbacks, I should have felt quite 
contented with my lot had it not been that, besides 
these fatigues common to all, an extra share was allotted 
to me, being a stranger in the company. As such, it 
was my duty to affect the qualities of modesty and 
devotion, to show myself not only fiiendly, but sub- 
missive, to all ; and to endeavour to concihate the affec- 
tion of old and young, by professmg an obligmg dis- 
position, and a readiness to perform any kind of small 
service. At first these offers were decluied by most 
of them, since they did not wish to offend in me the 
character of " efendi," having made my acquamtance 
as such. However, it was my duty m no case to yield, 



RECOLLECTIONS OF DERVISH LIFE. 29 

but on the contrary, to strive continually to make 
myself useful to one or the other. Besides the minor 
services I performed on the march, I had to try to be 
helpful to every one at the station, either by preparing 
tea and baking bread, or by lookmg after the riding 
horses, or by packing and unpacking. Some of my 
companions were obliging to me m return for my atten- 
tion, but others, who soon had forgotten my former 
position, treated me like an old fellow-traveller. Ser- 
vices were demanded and performed mthout the small- 
est ceremony; and I could not help laughing heartily, 
when a Hadji from Khokand once coolly handed me 
his shirt for me to free it from the many "unmvited 
guests," he being fully occupied in like manner on 
another part of his costume. 

It was to be foreseen that in this way an entente cordiale 
would speedily ripen between us. The more I accom- 
modated myself to my present position, forgetting the 
past, the quicker also disappeared the barrier between 
me and the other Hadjis. The society of others exer- 
cises a powerful influence upon us, uniting as it does 
the most opposite elements ; and after I had lived for 
a whole month as dervish, all appeared to me not only 
natural and endurable, but the charm of novelty in 
the life around me had actually effaced Teheran, Stam- 
boul, and Europe, from my memory ; and the contmual 
excitement in which I lived had produced in me a 
state of mind which was extraordinary, it is true, but 
never disagreeable. 



30 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

One feeling alone disquieted me: this was the fear 
of discovery, or, rather, of its consequences, — the ter- 
rible death of torture which Tartar cruelty and offended 
Mahometan fanaticism would have mvented for my 
punishment. Already during the first days of my re- 
sidence with the Turkomans I became aware that, in 
assuming my incognito, I was playing a dangerous 
game; and, but for the unlimited confidence I placed 
in the fidelity of my companions, and my own prepara- 
tions, this spectre would have haunted me every mo- 
ment of my existence. Durmg the greater part of 
the day, society, occupation, and events of various in- 
terest prevented the intrusion of these suspicions ; but 
at night, when everything around was hushed in 
silence, and I sat alone in a sohtary corner of my tent, 
or in the waste and barren desert, I became absorbed 
in thought. Fear appeared before me m its blackest 
guise and most terrible aspect ; nor would it leave me 
for a long, long time, however much I attempted to 
dispel it by sophistry or light-heartedness. Oh, this 
terrible Megsera! How she tormented me, how she 
tortured me, at those very moments when, seeking 
repose, I was about to lose myself in contemplation on 
the grandeur of nature and the wonderfiil constitution 
of man. In the long struggle between us, fear was 
finally subdued; but it is this very struggle, which I 
now blush to remember; for it is marvellous what 
efforts are required to grow familiar with the constant 
and visible prospect of death, and how great the anxiety 



EECOLLECTIONS OF DERVISH LIFE. 31 

in seeing only a doubtful foundation for the hope of 
one's further existence. 

No one, I am sure, will blame me for acting with 
precaution, nay, at first, with scrupulous precaution; 
but often it degenerated into ridiculous extremes. I 
was, for instance, conscious of my habit of gesticulating 
with the hands when speakmg, — a habit peculiar to 
many Europeans, but strictly forbidden in Central 
Asia; — and, fearing lest I might commit this mistake, 
I adopted a coercive remedy. I pretended to suffer 
from pains m the arms, and strapping them down to 
the body, they soon lost the habit of involuntary move- 
ment. In like manner I seldom ventured to make 
a hearty meal late in the evening, for fear of being 
troubled with heavy dreams, which might cause me 
to speak some foreign, European language. I laugh 
now at my pusillanimity, for I might have remembered 
that the Tartars, being unacquainted with European 
languages, would not have noticed it ; and yet I rather 
bore in mind the words of my companions, who ob- 
served one morning with great naivete^ that my snor- 
mg sounded differently from that of the Turkestanis, 
whereupon another interrupted and informed him: 
"Yes; thus people snore in Constantinople." 

It may be objected, that as so many of my actions 
might cause remark or offence when in company -svith 
others, I must at all events have shaken off this re- 
straint when alone. But alas ! Even then I was the 
slave of precaution; and is it not striking, or rather 



32 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

ridiculous, that at night, when in the boundless desert 
and at a considerable distance from the caravan, I did 
not venture to eat the unleavened bread, mixed up 
with ashes and sand, or take a draught of stinking 
water without accompanying it with the customary 
Mahometan formula of blessing ! I might have thought 
to myself, no one sees you, all around are asleep ; but 
no ! the distant sand hills appeared to me like so many 
spies, who were watching whether I was saying the 
Bismillah, and whether I had broken the bread m the 
proper rituahstic manner. Thus it happened when in 
Khiva, that, when sleeping alone in a dark cell, bolted 
and barred, I started up from my couch at the call to 
prayer, and began the troublesome labour of the thirteen 
Rikaat. When at the sixth or eighth, I had a great 
mind to leave off, thinking I was safely out of sight. 
But no ! it struck me, that perhaps the eyes of a spy 
might be watching me through the crevice in the 
door, and conscientiously I performed my unpleasant 
duty. 

Only time, the universal panacsea, could remedy 
this evil. Although my moral suffermgs were con- 
siderably more painful than the physical ones, time 
and habit came to my aid, and gained me here also 
the victory, and after having lived happily through 
four months, my mind had grown as hardened to any 
fear or terror as my body to dirt and uncleanliness. 
The epoch of indifference succeeded, and with it I 
began to feel the true charms of my adventure. I 



RECOLLECTIONS OF DERVISH LIFE. 33 

was attracted above all by the unlimited freedom of 
our life as vagrants, the total absence of trouble as to 
food and clothing, the gratuitous manner in which the 
dervish had everything provided for him, and, in addi- 
tion, the mental superiority which he exercises over 
the people at large. No wonder, then, that I lost no 
opportunity m amply profiting by the advantages of 
my position. My companions admitted that I possessed 
emment talents for the life of a dervish, and whenever 
the question rose how to get money from hard-hearted 
villagers, or to beg and collect a larger store of victuals, 
I was always entrusted with that part of the business. 
I one day brilliantly justified the confidence thus placed 
in me, in an encampment of Tchandor Turkomans. 
These, the wildest of all nomad people, had the repu- 
tation of being exceedingly wicked, and Hadjis, Tshans 
and Dervishes habitually avoided going near their 
tents. Having been told of this I set out on my way, 
accompanied by three companions who were known as 
famous singers, and taking with me a goodly store of 
holy dust, Zemzem water, tooth-picks, combs and the 
Kke gifts, presented by pilgrims. Some received me 
rather coldly, but yet the son of the desert, however 
wild he may be, cannot resist the words or the mimics 
of a dervish's strategy, and not only did I receive 
ample presents m the shape of wheat, rice, cheese and 
pieces of felt, but I succeeded m persuading one of the 
men to load his own ass with this harvest, and take it 
to our astonished caravan. 

3 



34 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

Success leads to boldness. No wonder, then, that 
after several successful expeditions, I assumed a de- 
meanour in which many will trace a certain degree of 
impudence. And, indeed, I can hardly refute this ac- 
cusation entirely, but how was I to have done other- 
wise ? No European can reahze to himself what it is 
to stand, a disguised Frenghi, (this word of terror to 
orientals, ) face to face with such a tyrant as the Khan 
of Khiva, and to have to bestow upon him the custo- 
mary benediction. If this man were to discover the 
dangerous trick, this man with the sallow face and 
siuister look, as he sits there surrounded by his satel- 
lites — such an idea is only endurable to a mind steeled 
to the highest pitch of resolution. At my first audi- 
ence I appeared really with a step so firm and gesture 
so bold, as if my presence were to bestow fehcity upon 
the Khan. All looked at me mth astonishment, for 
submissiveness is befitting to the pious and saints. 
However, they thought such was the custom in Tur- 
key, and I heard no remark made about it. 

Such bold measures, however, were seldom neces- 
sary, and, in its ordinary routme, the Hfe of a dervish 
has often given me moments of the greatest happiuess. 
Without feeling any incliuation to imitate the Russian 

Count D , who, wearied of the artificial hfe of 

Europeans, withdrew into one of the valleys of Kash- 
mir, turning beggar-dervish, I must confess that a 
pecuhar feehng of enjoyment came over me when, 
basking in the warm rays of the autumnal sun, either 



RECOLLECTIONS OF DERVISH LIFE. 35 

ill some ruin or other solitary spot, I could, in true 
oriental manner, absorb myself in vacant reflection. It 
is inexpressibly pleasurable to be rocked in the soft 
cradle of oriental repose and indifference, when one is 
without money or profession, free from care and excite- 
ment. To us Europeans such an enjoyment of course 
can only be of very short duration, for if our thoughts 
turn at such moments toward the distant, ever-active, 
and stirring west, the great contrast between these two 
worlds must at once strike the eye, and instinctively 
we feel attracted towards the latter. European acti- 
vity and Asiatic repose are the two great subjects 
which occupy the mind, but we have only to cast our 
look upon the ruins scattered around us to see which 
of the two follows the right philosophy of life. Here 
everything is on the road to ruin and servitude, there 
everything leads to prosperity and the sovereignty of 
the world. 

These varied scenes of life, in which I moved during 
my incognito, were far from being devoid of attrac- 
tions, as many a prejudiced European might imagine, 
although they naturally could fascinate but for a time. 
I was truly frightened one day, when the Khan of 
Khiva proposed to me seriously to marry and settle in 
Khiva, since persons of such extensive travelling as 
myself were far from disagreeable to him. The idea 
of spending my whole life in Turkestan, with an 
Q^zbeg wife for my partner, was horrible, and I should 
certainly have thrown up my plans if I had been 



36 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

obliged to accept the offer ; but, as it is, I shall cer- 
tainly never repent having spent a few months in an 
adventure which ended happily. I say never, for even 
the remembrance of all I experienced is indescribably 
sweet, and even now, when already more than three 
years have elapsed since my return, I find every ch'- 
cumstance as fresh in my memory, the whole scene as 
near and vivid, as if I had arrived with my caravan 
only last night, and were obliged to start off again on 
the morrow, and load my ass for the journey ; as often 
as I think back on my fellow-travellers, the most plea- 
sant feelings are re-awakened in remembrance of that 
intimate and hearty friendship which existed between 
us. We chatted, laughed, and bantered with each 
other on our long day's march, as if we could not 
wish for a more enjoyable existence ; it was above all 
my merry humour which greatly pleased them, and 
my jokes and puns afforded to them an endless source 
of amusement when we were alone, for in pubhc we 
all of us wore the long, stony faces suited to the gra- 
vity of our character as holy men. What would they 
say if they could see me now m the midst of so many 
unbehevers, and dressed m a garment so ridiculous in 
their eyes, the forked garment, as they designate Euro- 
pean trousers ? — me^ in whom they and the rest of the 
world believed to see a true specimen of a western 
Mahometan Mollah! I must confess that although 
the pleasant episodes of my incognito are even now 
frequently the cause of cheerful moments of recollec- 



EECOLLECTIONS OF DERVISH LIFE. 37 

tion, the sad hours of suffering and extremity of 
danger loom hke black clouds on the horizon of the 
present. Their gloomy shadows remind me vividly of 
past terrors, and even now, whenever I start up in. my 
sleep, haunted by oppressive dreams, it was very often 
His Majesty, the Khan of Bokhara, or the ffightfid tor- 
tures of thirst, or a fanatic group of Mollahs, who, 
hastening hither from Central Asia on the wings of 
Morpheus, honoured me Avith a visit. How happy do 
I feel on awaking, to find myself in Europe, in my 
dear native country, in my peaceful home ! 

I have often been in critical, nay, extremely critical 
situations, but on the whole only a few episodes have 
left behind on me such an impression as never will be 
effaced, and which, from being associated with the 
most imminent danger to my life, will never be for- 
gotten by me as long as I live. 



I. 

The evening in the Khalata desert, when, after 
having endured for two days the torments of thirst, I 
felt, with the last drop of water, my vital energies 
gradually ebbing away. Around me were lying many 
of my fellow-traveUers, suffering, probably, as acutely 
as myself, to judge from their wild, haggard looks, and 
rigid features. Raismg my heavy head with the 
greatest effort, I met the glance of those near me. 
They all seemed to be looking at me with expressions 



38 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

of bitter resentment, for during the afternoon I had 
heard the old ascetic, Kari Messud, repeat several 
times, " We are, alas ! the propitiatory victims for 
some great evil-doer who is amongst us in our cara- 
van." Possibly not one of them referred to me, but I 
felt, nevertheless, full of anxiety. Meanwhile the 
hour of evening prayer was approaching. Only a few 
could jom in it. The sun was fast setting, and, as the 
last rays lit up the unhappy group of sufferers in that 
vast desert, I could not help castmg a look towards 
the spot, where from the horizon he sent his last beams 
towards me, — ^that spot, which we call the west, the 
beloved west, which I had little hope to hve to see the 
next morning again ; and with unspeakable sadness I 
clung to the word ' west ; ' my half-exhausted senses 
revived anew, for with the word returned the thought 
of Europe, of my beloved home, my early departure 
from this world, the hard struggles of my past life, the 
wreck of all my aspirations, of all my pleasant hopes. 
My heart nearly broke with the burden of this great 
sorrow; I longed to weep, but could not. This mo- 
ment is one of unperishable memory; the terror of 
that scene has impressed itself indelibly on my miad, 
and whenever my thoughts turn towards the Khalata 
desert it will rise and haunt me lilve a phantom. 

11. 

The next occasion was during my audience with the 
emir of Bokhara, ui the palace of Samarkand. This 



RECOLLECTIONS OF DERVISH LIFE. 39 

prince, who had been represented to me as a person of 
doubtful character, had been severely exammmg my 
comitenance as I sat by his side, m order to discover 
in me a Frenghi in disguise. The readers of my travels 
are already acquainted with a part of the conversation 
that took place between us. I hoped to gain him over 
to our interests, but it cost me a giant's effort not to 
betray by my countenance, and especially my eyes, the 
excitement within me; and, although I shook and 
trembled in every nerve, I was obhged to suppress 
even the shghtest symptom of fear. An old adept in 
the part I played, I effectually succeeded in preventing 
a blush, or any change of colour, but I did not feel 
confident about the result. Let the reader reahse my 
position, when the emir, after an audience of a quarter 
of an hour, called to him one of his servants, cautiously 
whispered something in his ear, and, motioning to me 
with a serious expression of countenance, ordered me 
to follow his attendant. 

I rose quickly from my seat. The servant led me 
through room after room, and court after court, whilst 
the uncertainty of my fate filled me with alarm ; and, 
as oppression of heart breeds none other but images of 
terror, I fancied that this ominous walk was leading 
me to the torture-chamber, and to that dreadful death 
which so often had presented itself to my imagination. 
After some time we came to a dark room, where my 
guide ordered me to sit down and wait for his return. 
I remained standing, but in what state of mind my 



40 SKETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. 

readers may readily unagine. Perhaps I should have 
felt less terror could I only have known what my 
death was to be, but this uncertainty was like the tor- 
ture of hell, and I shall never forget it as long as I 
live. With a feverish impatience I counted the mi- 
nutes, until the door should open again 

A few more seconds of torture and the servant ap- 
peared. I fixed my eyes upon him, and perceived by 
the light that entered through the doorway that he 
did not bring with him the dreaded instruments of the 
executioner, but carried under his arm, instead, a care- 
fally folded-up bundle. This contamed a dress of 
honour, presented to me by the emir, as well as the 
' viaticum ' for my long pilgrim road. 

III. 

The third instance occiu-red to me when waiting for 
the arrival of the Herat caravan on the banks of the 
Oxus, durmg the hot days of August, in the company 
of the Lebab Turkomans. I dwelt in the court of a 
deserted mosque, and m the evenmgs the Turkomans 
usually brought with them one of their collections of 
songs or ballads, from which I had to read to them 
aloud, and it gave me especial pleasure to witness the 
undivided attention Avith which they hstened to the 
deeds of some popular hero, while the silence of the 
night air around us was only broken by the hollow 
murmur of the rolling waters of the Oxus. One even- 



KECOLLECTIONS OF DEEVISH LIFE. 41 

iiig our reading lasted till near midnight. I felt rather 
tu'ed, and, unmindful of the advice I had often received, 
not to sleep in the immediate proximity of rumed 
buildmgs, I stretched myself out beside a wall, and 
soon fell sound asleep. After about an hour I was 
suddenly awakened by an indescribably violent pam in 
my foot, and jumping up and screaming aloud, I felt as 
if hmidreds of poisoned needles were shooting through 
my leg, and concentrating in one small pomt near the 
big toe of my right foot. My screams awakened the 
eldest of the Turkomans, who slept near me, and with- 
out questioning me, he exclaimed, "Poor Hadji, a scor- 
pion has bitten thee, and that durmg the unlucky 
period of the Saratan (the dog days ! ) May God help 
thee ! " With these words he seized my foot, and 
bound it up round the ancle with such violence as if 
he were going to cut it in two, then searchmg in all 
haste with his hps for the wounded spot, he sucked 
with such force that I felt it all through my body. 
Another soon took his place, and two more bandages 
havuig been apphed they left me with these words of 
comfort, that, if it be the will of Allah, between now 
and the hour of the next morning prayer, it would 
be seen whether I should be released ft*om pam, or 
freed ft'om the follies of this world of vanity. 

Although I felt completely maddened by the itch- 
ing, pricking and burning, which kept mcreasmg more 
and more in violence, yet I remembered the legend of 
the scorpions of Belkh, well loiown for their venomous 



42 SKETCHES OP CENTRAL ASIA. 

nature even in ancient times. The reasonable appre- 
hension of death rendered the pain still more unbear- 
able, and that, after many hours of suffering, I really 
did surrender all hopes of recovery, was shown by the 
fact that, forgetting my incognito, I began to pour out 
my lament in expressions and sounds which, as the Tar- 
tars afterwards told me, appeared to them, extremely 
droll, since they are in the habit of using them when 
shouting for joy. It is remarkable that the pain spread 
in a few minutes from the toe to the top of the head, 
but only on the right side, and kept flowing up and 
down me Hke a stream of fire. No words can describe 
the torment I had to imdergo the hour after midnight. 
Loathing any longer to hve, I was about to dash my 
head to pieces by beating it upon the ground, but my 
companions observed my intention and tied me fast to 
a tree. Thus I lay for hours, half faintmg, whilst the 
cold sweat of death was running down me, and my 
eyes turned fixedly towards the stars. The Pleiades 
were gradually sinking in the west, and whilst await- 
ing m perfect consciousness the voice that calls to 
prayer, or rather the break of morning, a gentle sleep 
fell upon me, from which I was soon roused by the 
monotonous la illah il Allah. 

No sooner was I fully awake when I was sensible of 
a faint diminution of the pain. The pricking and 
burning disappeared more and more, in the same way 
as it had come, and the sun had not yet risen a lance's 
height over the horizon when I was able, though weak 



RECOLLECTIONS OF DERVISH LIFE. 43 

and exhausted, to rise to my feet. My companions 
assured me that the devil, havmg entered my body 
through the bite of the scorpion, had been scared away 
by the morning prayer, a fact I dared not of course 
discredit. But that terrible night will for ever remam 
engraven on my memory. 

It is these three events which were the critical mo- 
ments m my adventures in Central Asia. As to the 
rest, the many curious eyes that scrutuiised me, the 
various suspicions I laboured under, as well as the un- 
speakable fatigues of travelling in the guise of a 
beggar, all these privations and obstacles have left be- 
hind but few sad remembrances. The fascinations in 
seeing those strange countries, for which my eyes were 
longing from the earhest days of my youth, possessed 
in itself a charm at once animating and invigorating, 
for, except in the few cases just mentioned, I felt 
always particularly cheerful and happy. This much 
is certam, that I often miss, in my present civilised 
European life, the bodily and mental activity of those 
days, and who knows but that I may, in after years, 
wish that time to return, when, enveloped in tatters 
and without shelter, but vigorous and high in spirits, 
I wandered through the steppes of Central Asia. 



CHAPTER III. 

FEOM MY JOURNAL. 

AMONGST THE TUEKOMANS. 

ISth April. 

Struck with astonishment and surprise at the strange, 
social relations, amongst which I was to-day hving for 
the first time, I was sitting m the early mornuig hours 
upon one and the same carpet with Khandjan, my hos- 
pitable host, listeniQg with eager attention to his de- 
scriptions of Turkoman hfe and manners. He was 
one of the most influential chiefs amongst the nomads, 
by nature an upright man, and anxious to make me 
acquainted with the faults as well as the merits of his 
countrymen ; for being firmly convinced of my Turk- 
ish and semi-ofiicial character, he hoped to gain, through 
my position with the Sultan, on whom the whole Sun- 
nitish world rehes, assistance against Russians and 
Persians. He spoke with zeal, without betraying it 
outwardly; and after having given me his first lesson 
he rose, to show me, as he said, his house and court-yard, 
or in our phraseology, to make me acquainted with the 
ladies of the family. This is a very especial mark of 



AMONGST THE TURKOMANS. 45 

distinction among Asiatic nations; however, a man 
supposed to be an agent of the Sultan, well deserves 
such an attention; and accordingly I endeavoured, by 
my attitude in sittmg, my whole mien and carriage, 
to show myself worthy of it. 

After a few minutes I heard a strange clattering 
and clinking, the curtain of the tent was raised, and 
there entered a whole crowd of women, girls and chil- 
dren, who, headed by a corpulent and tolerably old 
matron, walked towards the place where I was sitting. 
They were evidently as much struck as myself by the 
scene ; looking tuTiidly around, the young women cast 
down their eyes, whilst the children clung with evident 
signs of fear to the clothes of their parents. Khandjan 
introduced the matron to me as his mother. She was 
about sixty years old, in the primitive costume of a 
long, red silk garment, and wearing across her chest, 
to the right and left, several large as well as small 
silver sheaths, m which as many talismans of great 
virtue were preserved; some even were inlaid with 
precious stones, as were also a considerable number of 
armlets, necklaces and anklets, — the heirlooms of the 
family through several generations, and, to judge from 
then- appearance, bearing the traces of high antiquity. 
The other women and children were likewise arrayed 
in ornaments of a similar kind, varymg, however, with 
the wearer's rank and position m the favour of their 
lord and master. The clothes themselves are often 
torn and dirty, and are looked upon as quite a matter 



46 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

of secondary importance ; but a Turkoman lady is not 
fashionably dressed, unless she carries about her per- 
son one or two pounds of silver in ornaments. 

The old lady was the first to extend her wrinkled 
hands for the customary greetuig, the others followed, 
and, after the young girls and children had embraced 
me, — for such is the rule of the hon ton^ — all squatted 
down aromid me in a semicircle and began to question 
me about my health, welfare, and happy arrival. Each 
one addressed me three or four times on the same sub- 
ject. I had to return just as many answers; and not 
in Europe alone does it happen that a circle of ladies 
may perplex and embarrass an inexperienced Solomon : 
even in the desert of Central Asia the hke may occur. 
Everywhere among the nomad people of the Maho- 
medan East the women lose more and more their moral 
and physical attributes, the older they grow. During 
my first interview I was obliged to reply to the most 
delicate questions of the younger portion; whilst the 
elder ones conversed on religion, politics, and the do- 
mestic relations of the neighbourmg tribes. I had to 
guard against exhibiting surprise at the manner of 
either of them; the younger women I succeeded in 
inspiring with awe for my strict virtue as a Mollah, 
and the elderly ones received an ample share of bless- 
ings. Several men, neighbours and relatives, arrived 
during this visit, but they caused no disturbance or 
discomposure among the ladies, who enjoy, as I have 
often had the opportunity of observing, a certain re- 



AMONGST THE TUEKOMANS. 47 

spect, although they are exclusively the working class 
of the community. And indeed the Turkoman women 
deserve such, for nowhere m the East have I met with 
then equals in exemplary virtue, devotion to their 
families, and indefatigable industry. 

This visit lasted nearly an hour, and towards the 
end of it I had to write several talismans, m return 
for which the women presented me with sundry small 
gifts, their own handwork. The old lady came several 
times afterwards to visit me ; once I even accompanied 
her to the tumulus which is raised over the remains 
of her husband, in order to pray for the soul of the 
departed. The good understandmg between us two 
struck even the nomads : however, at present the reason 
for it is sufficiently clear to me. In the first instance 
a certain foreign look in my appearance, as well as the 
halo of piety which surrounded me, had attracted her, 
at the same time that I was ever ready to lend a pa- 
tient ear to her conversations ; listening attentively to 
her discourses on the short-commgs of the Persian 
female slaves in her household, on the want of skill in 
the women of the present day, in weaving carpets, pre- 
paring felt, &c., interspersing now and then an obser- 
vation of my own, as if I had been accustomed to these 
subjects from my youth and took an especial interest 
in all the details of a nomad household. 

And, after all, this is the philosophy of life that 
should guide a traveller everywhere, if he wishes to 
learn anything. Here, for instance, a pliant demeanour 



48 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

proved of considerable use, since the aifection of the 
old matron towards me contributed in a great measure 
to render my residence amongst the Turkomans agree- 
able, — a people, amongst whom not even an Asiatic 
stranger can move freely, still less an European. 

16th April. 

I entered the tent of Khandjan after the morning 
prayer and found here a whole company, listenmg with 
the greatest attention to the narrative of a young Tur- 
koman, who was covered with dust and dirt, and whose 
face bore evident traces of excitement and severe hard- 
ships. He was describing in a low voice, but in lively 
colours, a maurading excursion against the Persians 
of the evening before, in which he had taken part. 
Whilst he was speaking, the women, servants and slaves 
(what must have been the thoughts of these latter), 
squatted down around the circle of listeners, and many 
a curse was hurled at the slaves, the clanking of the 
chains on their feet interrupting for a time the general 
quiet. It struck me as remarkable, that, in propor- 
tion as the speaker warmed in describing the obstinate 
resistance of the unfortunate people, who were fallen 
on unawares, the indignation of the audience increased 
at the audacity of the Persians, not to have at once 
quietly submitted to bemg plundered. 

No sooner was the narration of this great feat of 
arms at an end when all rose to their feet to have a 
look at the spoils, the sight of which excites in the 



AMONGST THE TURKOMANS. 49 

Turkoman's breast a mixed feeling of envy and plea- 
sure. I followed them likewise, and a terrible picture 
presented itself to my eyes. Lying down in the middle 
of the tent were two Persians, looking deadly pale and 
covered with clotted blood, dirt and dust. A man 
was busily engaged in putting their broken Kmbs into 
fetters, when one of them gave a loud, wild shriek, 
the rmgs of the chains being too small for him. The 
cruel Turkoman was about to fasten them forcibly 
round his ancles. In a corner sat two young children 
on the ground, pale and trembling^ and looking with 
sorrowful eyes towards the tortured Persian. The 
unhappy man was their father ; they longed to weep, 
but dared not ; — one look of the robber, at whom they 
stole a glance now and then, with their teeth chatter- 
ing, was sufficient to suppress their tears. In another 
corner a girl, from fifteen to sixteen years old, was 
crouching, her hair dishevelled and in confusion, 
her garments torn and almost entirely covered with 
blood. She groaned and sobbed, covering her face 
with her hands. Some Turkoman woman, moved 
either by compassion or curiosity, asked her what 
ailed her, and where she was wounded. "I am not 
wounded," she exclaimed, in a plaintive voice, deeply 
touching. " This blood is the blood of my mother, 
my only one, and the best and kindest of mothers. 
Oh ! ana djan, ana djan (dear mother) ! " Thus she 
lamented, striking her head against the trellised wood- 

4 



50 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

work of the tent, so that it almost tumbled down. 
They offered her a draught of water, and her tongue, 
became loosened, and she told them how she (of course 
a valuable prize) had been lifted iato the saddle beside 
the robber, but that her mother, tied to the stirrups, 
had been obliged to run along on foot. After an hour's 
running in this manner, she grew so tired that she 
sank downexhausted every moment. The Turkoman 
tried to increase her strength by lashuig her with his 
whip, but this was of no avail ; and as he did not want 
to remain behind from his troop he grew in a rage, drew 
his sword, and in a second struck off her head. The 
blood spirting up, had covered the daughter, horseman 
and horse; and, looking at the red spots upon her 
clothes, the poor girl wept loud and bitterly. 

WhUst this was going on in the interior of the tent, 
outside the various members of the robbers' family 
were busy inspecting the booty he had brought home. 
The elder women seized greedily upon one or another 
utensil for domestic use, whilst the children, who were 
jumping about merrily, were trymg on the different gar- 
ments, — now one, now another, and producing shouts 
of laughter. 

Here all was triumph and merriment; not far from 
it a picture of the deepest grief and misery. And yet 
no one is struck by the contrast; every one thmks it 
very natural that the Turkoman should enrich himself 
with robbery and pillage. 



AMONGST THE TURKOMANS. 51 

And these terrible social relations exist -within scarcely 
a fortnight's distance from Europe, travelling by St. 
Petersburg, Nishnei Novogorod, and Astrakhan! 

18th April. 

Eliaskuli, who dwelt in the fourth tent from mine on 
the banks of the Gorgen, was a " retired " Turkoman, 
who, up to his thirtieth year, had carried on the usual 
profession of kidnapping and pillaging, and had now 
retired from busmess, m order, as he said, to spend 
the rest of this futile, ridiculous life (fani diinya) here 
below in the pious exercise of the law; as far as I 
know, however, it is because several shot womids of 
the " hellish " weapons at Ashurada prevented him 
from carrying on any longer his infamous trade. He 
was in hopes I might invoke upon his wicked head 
every blessing of heaven by my prayers, and to this 
eifect he narrated to me, with many details, how the 
Russians, after havmg declared a religious war, had 
once landed here, and attacked and set fire to all the 
tents that stood on the banks of the Gorgen. This re- 
ligious war was in fact nothing else than that the 
Russians wanted to release some countrymen of theirs, 
whom these robbers had carried off prisoners, but the 
fight lasted more than a whole day. He added, that 
although the Russians, bemg too cowardly to come 
near, shot only from a distance, yet the valiant Gazis 
(rehgious combatants) could not resist their devUish 
arts, that he too received at that time some death 



52 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

wounds, and was a whole day without giving a sign of 
hfe, until at last his Pir (spiritual chief) called him 
back into existence. 

This same Eliaskuli offered to accompany me to-day 
to the Ova of the Ana Khan, who is the chief of the 
Yarali tribe, and dwells on the upper Gorgen, close 
to the Persian frontier. From curiosity, perhaps, or 
some other motive, he wished to make my acquaintance. 
Our road lay for some time along the left bank of the 
river, but soon we were obliged to make a considerable 
circuit, in order to avoid the large marshes and mo- 
rasses. Unacquainted as the people around me were 
with my motives for travelluig, I laid myself open to 
suspicion, no doubt ; but the experience of a few days 
calmed my fears for the security of my position, and 
indeed all misgivings vanished, when I saw how the 
people, whenever we were passing some tent on our 
route, came towards me with milk, cheese and other 
presents, askmg for my blessing. Thus I rode on in 
high spirits, troubled at nothing but the heavy Turko- 
man felt cap, on the top of which in addition several 
yards of linen were folded round in the shape of a tur- 
ban, and the heavy musket on my back, which for 
propriety's sake I was obhged to carry, in spite of my 
character as Mollah. Ehaskuli sometimes remained 
behind for full half an hour, but I continued my way 
alone, meeting now and then a few marauding strag- 
glers, who, returning home empty from some unsuc- 
cessful foray, measured me with sinister looks from 



AMONGST THE TUEKOIMANS. 53 

head to foot. Some saluted me, others only asked, 
" Whose guest art thou, MoUah?" in order to judge 
from my personality whether it was feasible to plunder 
me or not; but no sooner did T reply "Kelte Khand- 
jan Bay," when they rode on in evident displeasure, 
muttering in their beard an abrupt "Aman bol," 
(farewell.) 

Towards evening we arrived at the tents, together 
with Khandjan, who, having taken a different road, 
had joined us on the way. Ana Khan, the patriar- 
chal chief, a man about sixty years of age, was seated 
on the green slope of a hill, surrounded by his grand- 
children and little children, (it is only in the east that 
one meets with people, thus related to one another, of 
the same age,) watchmg them mth looks of pleasure, 
as also the flocks of sheep and herds of camels who 
were returnmg home from their rich pasturage. Our 
reception was short, but friendly. Walkmg before us, 
he conducted us mto the ready prepared tent, where I 
was appointed to the seat of honour ; the proper con- 
versation, however, not beginnmg until the very last 
remnants of the sheep, killed expressly for the occa- 
sion, had disappeared from the table. Ana Khan 
spoke httle, but he listened attentively to my descrip- 
tion of Turkish life and Russo Turkish relations. The 
next morning, however, he grew rather more talkative, 
and he began by treatmg us with the narrative of an 
act of hosj)itality on his part towards an English ilt- 
shi (ambassador) on his way to Khiva. I guessed at 



54 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

once that this must have been the mission of Mr. Wil- 
liam T. Thomson, who was sent thither by his govern- 
ment to adjust the diiFerences between Persia and the 
Khan of Khiva. Ana Khan, in describing the arms, 
trinkets and person of the Frenghi ambassador, laid 
such particular stress upon the resemblance of his fea- 
tures to mine, that the cause of his curiosity was at 
once evident, as well as his reason for wishing me to 
visit him. Looking significantly and with glowing 
eyes at his countrymen, as if to persuade them of the 
keenness of his perceptions, he came close up to me, 
and gently tapping me on the shoulder, said, "Efendi! 
the Tura (rule) of the Sultan of Rum is held in high 
honour amongst us; first, he is the prince of all the 
Sunnites; secondly, Turkomans and Osmanlis are 
blood-relations, and thou art our honoured guest, 
although thou hast brought us no presents." In this 
remark I read much, but inferred still more from it. 
My incognito, then, as dervish, did not always meet 
with implicit belief. The majority, however, especially 
the Mollahs, trusted in me, and single sceptics did not 
by any means cause me disquiet. 

I observed, moreover, that Khandjan did not share 
the views of Ana Khan, the subject was never agam 
broached, and I enjoyed the full hospitahty of the sus- 
picious chieftam. 

20th April. 
In distant Mergolan, in the Khanat of Khokand, re- 



AMONGST THE TURKOMANS. 55 

ligious zeal recommends the frequent collection of 
money among the people, to support the high schools 
at Medina, which town possesses a large number of 
such mstitutions. Here, at the fountain-head of Islam- 
ism, ardent students crowd together, eager interpreters 
of the Koran, who, under the protecting ^Egis of their 
pious occupation, are supported m luxurious idleness 
by all the Mahometan countries far and near. Sti- 
pends arrive here from distant Fez and Morocco ; the 
chiefs of the Algerine tribes send their annual gifts; 
Tunis, Tripohs and Egypt as well as other smaller 
Mahommedan states, send hither their tribute. Tur- 
key vies with Persia in the support of these pupils. 
The Tartar, hving under Russian protection, the native 
of India, subject to Enghsh dominion, all give freely 
to the high schools of Medina. And yet all this is 
not deemed sufficient ; even the poor inhabitants of the 
oasis in Turkestan are asked to contribute their mite. 
It was at the time of my travels in Central Asia, 
that Khodja Buzurk, the much-revered saint in those 
parts, had collected, no doubt by dint of immense as- 
siduity, 400 ducats for Medina. Mollah Esad, the 
confidential friend of His Holiness, was commissioned 
to take the sum to its destination. Although ui Cen- 
tral Asia the possession of money, the great source of 
danger for its possessor, is always kept secret, yet the 
above-mentioned Mollah made no mystery of the object 
of his journey, in the hope of enlarging his fund. 
Bokhara, Khiva and other towns he visited had con- 



56 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

tributed to increase it, and in the belief of meeting 
with equal success among the Turkomans, he entered 
upon his journey through the desert, relying upon his 
letters of recommendation to several of the nomad 
learned men. 

He reached Gomlishtepe without any mishap, but 
with the news of his arrival there spread simultaneously 
that of the contents of his travelling bag. The Tur- 
komans were told at the same time that the money 
was destined for a pious object, but this did not trouble 
them. Each man endeavoured to catch him before he 
became the guest of any one, for until a traveller 
enjoys the rights of hospitahty he is completely unpro- 
tected among the nomads; he may be plundered, 
killed, sold into captivity, — there is no one to call the 
offender to account. The host alone it is, whose ven- 
geance is dreaded; whosoever is taken under his pro- 
tection is looked upon as a member of his family, and 
is tolerably secure from attack. 

With these facts our Khokand Mollah must have 
been acquainted, and nevertheless he trusted to the 
mere lustre of his religious zeal. One morning, having 
gone a short distance from the caravan, he was fallen 
upon by two Turkoman men, and plundered of all his 
money. No entreaties on his part, no appeal to the 
hoHness of his mission, no threats of terrible and con- 
dign punishment, nothing was of any avail; they 
stripped him even of his clothes, and left him nothing 
but his old books and papers. Thus he returned to 



AMONGST THE TURKOMANS. 57 

the caravan, stunned and half naked. This happened 
about a fortnight before my arrival, during which time 
the delmquents were fomid out and summoned before 
the religious tribunal. In my position, as MoUah 
from Constantinople, I had the good luck to be 
honoured with a seat iii court, and the scene at which 
I was present, and in which I took an active part, will 
long remaui vivid m my recollection. We, that is to 
say, the learned men, had assembled. m a field, where 
we were sitting in the open air, forming a semi- circle, 
and holding large volumes in our hands, surrounded 
by a great crowd, who were eager with curiosity. 
The robbers made their appearance accompanied by 
then' families and the chief of then' tribe, ■ without be- 
traying the least embarrassment, just as if they had 
come for the settlement of some honest transaction. 
When questioned, who has taken the money? the cul- 
prit answered m the haughtiest tone, " I have taken 
it." I felt sure from the very beguming that a resti- 
tution of money would never be made. Most of the 
council having exhausted their talents of rhetoric by 
endless quotations from the Koran, it was my turn to 
try and impress the hero, and I did so by pointmg out 
to him the wickedness of his deed. "What wicked- 
ness!" the Turkoman exclaimed, " is robbery pmiished 
in thy country? This is strange indeed! I should 
have thought that the Sultan, the Lord of the Uni- 
verse, was a man of more sense. If robbery is not 
permitted amongst you, how do thy people live?" 



58 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

Another Mollah threatened him with the Sheriat 
(religious precepts,) and depicted in glowing colours 
the punishments of hell, which the Turkoman had to 
expect in another world. "What Sheriat?" he re- 
plied, " each man his own ! Thou, Mollah, possessest 
laws and precepts in thy tongue, which thou twistest 
as thou likest, I possess my Sheriat in my good sword, 
which I brandish whenever my arm commands ! " 
After long and fruitless exhortations, and equally long 
consultations amongst the grey-beards, our sitting was 
closed without any success on our part. The Turko- 
man went away with his money, which he spent in 
furnishing himself with new weapons, instead of its 
bemg sent to Medina towards the support of her stu- 
dents. Mollah Esad returned with a sad heart to 
Khokand, having learnt from bitter experience that the 
Turkomans, although calling themselves orthodox, are 
the blackest Kafirs oh the face of the earth. 

&tJi May. 

Oraz Djan, a young, daring and wild looking Tur- 
koman, of about eighteen years old, who had taken 
part in marauding excursions ever since he was twelve, 
was a daily guest in our tent at Etrek, in order to 
listen to the Pir (spiritual chief) of the kidnapping 
robbers, in his discourses on religion and moral philo- 
sophy. It happened one day, that Omer Akhond, a 
Mollah from the neighbourhood, was present, a man 
celebrated for his great knowledge, and still better 



AMONGST THE TUKKOMANS. 59 

kno^vn as the owner of a particularly excellent horse. 
The anunal was spoken of, and every one was loud ui 
the praise of its high qualities, when young Oraz, 
catching fire on hearing this, called out half in earnest, 
half m joke, " Akhond, I will give thee three asses and 
a Persian for thy horse. It is a pity that it should 
rest m the stable, whilst the Persians so freely wander 
m their fields. But, if thou dost not consent, then 
mark my words, in a few days it will be stolen from 
thee ! " The Mollah and Pir rebuked him severely, but 
he laughed aloud wildly, and the conversation con- 
tmued as before. 

Scarcely four days had passed when the Mollah en- 
tered our tent one morning with tears in his eyes, and 
looking very sad. " My horse has been stolen from 
me," he exclaimed with a sigh, "thou alone, Kulkhan, 
canst restore it to me. Let me entreat thee, by the 
love of the Tshiharyar (the four first chiefs,) do thy 
utmost ! " " This is the work of the Haramzacle (Bas- 
tard) Oraz," muttered Kulkhan, " you will see, I shall 
tear his black soul fr^om out of his dirty body." 

At the time of evenmg prayer our amiable Oraz 
was, as usual, among the rest of our orthodox friends, 
who assembled on the terrace-like height, where stands 
the mosque of the desert, and certamly no one would 
have guessed, fr^om his devotional expression at his 
prayers, that this very day he had been robbmg a 
father of the church. When after the Namaz all 
formed the customary circle (Khalka,) Oraz did not 



60 SItETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

fail'to come. Kulkhan at once addressed him with, 
" Young fellow ! The horse of the Mollah has been 
stolen, thou knowest where it is ; to-morrow morning 
he must be again in his stable, do you hear me?" 
This address caused the young robber not the least 
embarrassment. Playing with one hand in the sand, 
and with the other pushing on one side his heavy fur 
hat, he rephed, "I have the horse, but I shall not 
return it; he who wants it must fetch it." These 
words, I thought, would have roused the indignation 
of every one present, but not a trace of it was seen in 
the features of one of the company. Kulkhan went on 
speaking to him in his former quiet tone of voice, but 
the robber insisted on refusing to restore the horse, 
and when some of the grey-beards began to use threats, 
he, too, caught fire, and having turned to his spiritual 
chief with " Hast thou done better with the mare 
of the Hadji?" rose and left the company; and for 
some time was heard singing aloud the refrain of the 
poem Korogh, in the still evenmg air, thus proving 
sufficiently his joy at the victory he had gained. 

A considerable time was spent in consultation after 
he was gone. No one ventured to attack him, since 
his tribe, according to custom, would have taken him 
under their protection, in spite of his abominable con- 
duct, and they were too powerful to risk an attack. 
Spiritual aid, therefore, had to be called in, and that it 
should have taken unmediate effect is not to be mar- 
velled at. 



AMONGST THE TURKOMANS. 61 

According to the Deh no greater punishment can 
befal a living man, than to be accused before the shade 
of his departed father or ancestor. This is done by 
plantmg a lance upon the top of the grave, and fasten- 
ing to it a couple of blood-stained rags, if murder has 
been committed, and for any other crime a broken 
bow. Such an appeal unites the Turkomans as one 
man against the offender and his tribe, and how deep 
an effect it has on the mind of the culprit, I saw on 
this occasion, for no sooner did Oraz perceive the lance 
fixed upon the high Yoska of his grandfather, when 
m the silence of the following night he led the horse 
back to the tent of the MoUah, and tied it to its former 
place. This act of restitution, as he himself told me, 
will pam him for a long time to come. But it is 
better to lie in the black earth than to have disturbed 
the repose of one's ancestors. 



CHAPTEH lY. 

THE CARAVAN IN THE DESERT. 

" The Chit menzili Turkestan^ or the Forty Stations 
across the desert of Turkestan," I often heard my friends 
say, " are far more troublesome and much more diffi- 
cult to get over than the Chil menzili Arabistan, or the 
Forty Stations on the Pilgrims' route from Damascus 
to Mecca. On this last one finds every day fresh cis- 
terns, which furnish drhikable water for thousands; 
the pilgrim is sure to get fresh bread, a good dish of 
pilaw or meat, cool shade, and all the comforts he longs 
for after the exhausting day's march. But on the 
former route, man has done nothing for the support of 
the poor traveller. He is in constant danger of dying 
from thirst, of being murdered, of being sold as a slave, 
of being robbed, or of being buried alive under the 
burning sand-storm. Well-filled water-skins and flour 
sacks, the best horses and arms, often become useless, 
and there is nothmg left to one but to strive to get 
forward as fast as possible, while invoking the name 
of Allah." 

The readers of my " Travels in Central Asia," may 
be supposed to have some idea of the awfully imposing 



THE CARAVAN IN THE DESEET. 63 

journey from Persia to the oasis-lands of Turkestan, 
I may here furnish a few additional particulars about 
the experience of our caravan. I have several times 
been blamed for being too concise to be graphic, and 
this charge, I confess, is not altogether undeserved. 
I propose here to make up for my faults of omission. 

During the first three days' march, the impressive, 
endless silence of the desert — a silence as of the grave 
— cast a most powerful spell over my soul. Often 
did I stare vacantly for hours, my eyes fixed on the 
distance before me, and as my companions believed 
me to be sunk in religious meditations, I was very 
seldom disturbed. I only half observed how, during 
the march, certain members of our caravan nodded 
in sleep on the backs of their camels, and by their lu- 
dicrous movements and sudden starts afibrded our com- 
pany exquisite amusement. Any one overcome with 
sleep would lay hold of the high pummel of the saddle 
with both his hands, but this did not prevent him from 
either, with a forward lurch, knocking his chin with 
such force that all his teeth chattered, or, by a back* 
ward one, threatening to fall with a summersault to 
the ground. Indeed this last often happened, arousmg 
the hearty laughter of the whole party. The fallen 
became the hero of the day, and had to support the 
most galling fire of jokes on his awkwardness. 

The most inexhaustible fountain of cheerfulness was 
a young Turkoman, named Niyazbirdi, who possessed 
no less livelmess of spirits than agility of body, and by 



64 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

every word and movement contrived to draw laughter 
from the most venerable of the MoUahs. Although 
he was owner of several laden camels, he was, never- 
theless, for the most part, accustomed to go on foot; 
and running now right, now left, he alarmed by cries 
or gestures any group of wild asses that showed them- 
selves along our route. Once, indeed, he succeeded 
in gettmg hold of a young wild ass, which, through 
fatigue, had loitered behind the rest. The young shy 
creature was led along by a rope, and was the occasion 
of really droll scenes, when its lucky captor gave a 
prize of three spoonfuls of sheeps-tail fat to any one 
who dared to mount it. Three spoonfuls of mutton 
fat is a temptmg prize for Hadjis in the desert, so that 
many were seduced by the prospect of gaining it. 
Nevertheless, they could make nothmg of this unci- 
vihzed brother of Balaam's charger, for the unfortu- 
nate Hadjis had no sooner seated themselves on its 
back than they were stretched sprawhng in the sand. 

Only after a march of several hours is general weari- 
ness to be remarked. All eyes are then turned towards 
the Kervan bashi^ whose gaze at such a time wanders 
in every direction to spy out a suitable halting place, that 
is to say, one which will afford most plentiful fodder for 
the camels. No sooner has he fomid such, than he him- 
self hastens towards it, while the younger members of the 
caravan disperse themselves to right and left to collect 
dried roots, or scrub, or other ftiel. Dismounting, 
unpackmg, and settling down, is the work of a few 



THE CArvAVAN IN THE DESERT. 65 

moments. The hope of much-desired rest restores 
the exhausted strength. With speed the ropes are 
slackened, with speed the heaviest bales of" merchan- 
dize are piled up in little heaps, in whose shade the 
wearied traveller is accustomed to stretch himself. 
Scarcely have the hungry camels betaken themselves 
to their pasture-ground when a solemn stillness fills 
the caravan. This stillness is, I may say, a sort of 
intoxication, for every one revels in the enjoyment of 
rest and refreshment. 

The picture of a newly- encamped caravan in the 
summer months, and on the steppes of Central Asia, 
is a truly mteresting one. While the camels, in the 
distance but still in sight, graze greedily, or crush the 
juicy thistles, the travellers, even the poorest among 
them, sit with their tea- cups in their hands and eagerly 
sip the costly beverage. It is nothing more than a 
greenish warm water, innocent of sugar, and often de- 
cidedly turbid ; still human art has discovered no food, 
has invented no nectar, which is so grateful, so refresh- 
ing in the desert, as this unpretending drink. I have 
still a vivid recollection of its wonder-workmg effects. 
As I sipped the first drops a soft fire filled my veins, 
a fire which enhvened -without mtoxicatmg. The later 
draughts affected both heart and head ; the eye became 
pecuharly bright and began to gleam. In such mo- 
ments I felt an mdescribable rapture and sense of com- 
fort. My companions sank in sleep; I could keep 
myself awake and dream with open e}^es. 

5 



QQ SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

After the tea has restored their streno;th the caravan 
becomes gradually busier and noisier. They eat in 
groups or circles which are here called kosh, which 
represent the several houses of the wandering town. 
Everywhere there is something to be done, and every- 
where it is the younger men who are doing it, while 
their elders are smoking. Here they are baking bread. 
A Hadji in rags is actively kneading the black dough 
with dirty hands. He has been so engaged for half 
an hour, and still his hands are not clean, for one mass 
of dough cannot absorb the accumulations of several 
days. There they are cooking. In order to know 
what is bemg cooked, it is not necessary to look round 
The smell of mutton-fat, but especially the aroma, 
somewhat too piquant, of camel or horse-cutlets, tells 
its own tale. Nor have the dishes when cooked any- 
thing invitmg to the eye. But m the desert a man 
does not disturb himself about such trifles. An enor- 
mous appetite covers a multitude of faults, and hunger 
is notoriously the best of sauces. 

Nor are amusements wanting in the caravan-camp 
when the halt is somewhat prolonged. The most 
popular recreation is shooting at a mark, in which the 
prize is always a certain quantity of powder and shot. 
This sort of diversion was very seldom possible in our 
caravan, as on account of our small numbers we were 
in continual danger, and had therefore to make our- 
selves heard as little as possible. My comrades were 
accustomed to pass their leisure time in reading the 



THE CARAVAN IN THE DESERT. 67 

Koran, in ^performance of other religious exercise, in 
sleeping, or in attending to their toilet. I say "toilet," 
but it is to be hoped that no one will here understand 
the word to imply a boudoir, delicate perfumes, or 
artistical aids. The Turkomans are accustomed to 
pluck out the hair of the beard with small piacers. 
As to the toilet of the Hadjis, and, indeed, my o^vn, it 
is so simple and so prosaic as to be scarcely worth 
alluding to. The necessary requisites were sand, fire, 
and ants. The manner of application I leave as a 
riddle for the reader to solve. 

Certainly, of all the nations of Asia, the Tartar seems 
to fit m most appropriately with the bizarre picture of 
desert fife. Full of superstition, and a blind fatahst, 
he can easily support the constant dread of danger. 
Dirt, poverty and privations, he is accustomed to, even 
at home. No wonder, then, that he sits content m 
clothes which have not been changed for months, and 
Avith a crust of dirt on his face. This mner peace of 
mmd could never become a matter of mdiff'erence to 
me. At evenmg prayers, in which the whole company 
took part, this peace of mind struck me most forcibly. 
They thanked God for the benefits they enjoyed. On 
such occasions the whole caravan formed itself into a 
smgie fine, at whose head stood an imam, who turned 
towards the setting sun and led the prayers. The 
solenmity of the moment was increased by the stillness 
which prevailed far and wide ; and if the rays of the 
sinking sun lit up the faces of my companions, so wild 



68 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

yet withal so well satisfied, they seemed to be in the 
possession of all earthly good, and had nothing left 
them to wish. Often I could not help thmking what 
would these people feel if they foim^d themselves lean- 
ing against the comfortable cushions of a first-class rail- 
way carriage, or amid the luxuries of a well-appointed 
hotel. How distant, how far distant are the blessmgs 
of civilization from these countries ! 

So much for the life of the caravan by day. By 
night the desert is more romantic, but at the same 
time more dangerous. As the power of sight is now 
lunited, the circle of safety is contracted to the most 
immediate neighbourhood ; and both during the march 
and in the encampment every one tries to keep as close 
as possible to his fellows. By day the caravan con- 
sisted of but one long chain; by night this is broken 
up into six or eight smaller ones, which, marching close 
together, form a compact square, of which the outmost 
Imes are occupied by the stoutest and boldest. By 
moonhght the shadow of the camels as they stalk along 
produces a curious and impressive effect. Durmg the 
dark starless night everythmg is full of horror, and to 
go one step distant from the side of the caravan is 
equivalent to leaving the home circle to plunge into a 
desolate sohtude. In the halt by day each one occupies 
whichever place may please hun best. At night, on 
the contrary, a compact camp is formed under the 
direction of the Kervan bashi. The bales of goods are 
heaped up in the middle; around them lie the men; 



THE CAEAVAN IN THE DESERT. 69 

while without, as a wall of defence, the camels are laid, 
tightly packed together, in a circle. I say laid, for 
these wonderful animals squat down at the word of 
command, remain the whole night motionless in their 
place, and, like children, do not get up the next mom- 
mg mitil they are told to do so. They are placed 
^vith their heads pointing outward and their tails in- 
ward, for they perceive the presence of any enemy from 
far, and give the alarm by a dull rattle m the throat, 
so that even in their hours of repose they do duty as 
sentinels. Those who sleep withm the rayon find 
themselves m immediate contact mth these beasts, 
and, as is well known, they have not the pleasantest 
smell. It often happens that the saline fodder and 
water which these animals feed upon produce palpable 
consequences for such as sleep m their immediate 
neighbourhood. I myself often woke up with such 
frescoes. But no one takes any notice of such thuigs, 
for who could be angry with these animals, who, al- 
though ugly in appearance, are so patient, so temperate, 
so good-tempered, and so useful? 

It is no wonder that the wanderers over the desert 
praise the camel as surpassing all other beasts of the 
field, and even love it with an almost adormg affection. 
Nourished on a few thorns and thistles, which other 
quadrupeds reject, it traverses the wastes for weeks, 
nay, often for months together. In these dreary, de- 
solate regions, the existence of man depends upon that 
of the camel. It is, besides, so patient and so obedient 



70 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

that a child can with one '''' tsliukW^ make a whole herd 
of these tall strong beasts kneel down, and with a 
'■{berrr" get up again. How much could I not read 
in their large dark blue eyes ! When the march is too 
long or the sand too deep, they are accustomed to ex- 
press their discomfort and weariness. This is especially 
when they are bemg laden, if too heavy bales are piled 
upon their backs. Bending under the burden, they 
turn their heads round towards then' master ; in their 
eyes gleam tears, and their groans, so deep, so piteous, 
seem to say, " Man, have compassion upon us !" 

Except durmg a particular season of the year, when 
through the operation of the laws of nature it is in a 
half -intoxicated, half- stupefied condition, the camel has 
always a striking impression of seriousness. It is im- 
possible not to recognise in its features the Chaldee- 
aramaean type, and in whatever portions of the earth 
he may be found at the present day, his original home 
is unquestionably Mesopotamia and the Arabian desert. 
The Turkomans disturb this serious expression of coun- 
tenance by the barbarous manner in which they arrange 
the leadiQg-rope through the bored nose. With the 
strmg hanging down to the chest, the camel resembles 
an European dandy armed with his lorgnon. Both of 
them hold their heads high m the air, and both are 
alike led by the nose. 

As the -word of command to encamp is enlivening 
and acceptable, so grievous, so disturbing, is the signal 
for gettmg ready to start. The Kervan hashi is the 



THE CARAVAN IN THE DESERT. 71 

first to rouse himself. At his call or sign all prepare 
for the journey, Even the poor camels in the pastures 
understand it, and often hasten without being driven 
to the caravan ; nay, what is more extraordinary, they 
place themselves close to the bales of merchandize with 
which they were before laden, or the persons who were 
mounted on them. In a quarter of an hour everybody 
has found his place in the hne of march. At the halting- 
place there remains nothing but a few bones, gnawed 
clean, and the charred traces of the improvised hearths. 
These marks of human life in the desert often disappear 
as quickly as they were produced ; sometimes, however, 
they are preserved through climatic accidents for a 
long time; and succeeding travellers are cheered by 
fallmg in with these abandoned fireplaces. The black 
charred spot seems to their eyes like a splendid cara- 
vanserai, and the thought that here human beings have 
been, that here hfe once was active, makes even the 
vast solitude of the desert more like home. 

Speaking of these spots where afire has been kindled, 
I am reminded of those vast burnt plains, often many 
days' march in extent, which I met with in the desert 
between Persia and Khiva, and of which I heard so 
many wonderful tales from the mouths of the nomads. 
During the hot season of the year, when the scorching 
sun has dried shrubs and grass till they have become 
hke tinder, it often happens that a spark, carelessly 
dropped, and fanned by the wmd, will set the steppe 
on fire. The flame, finding ever fresh fuel, spreads 



72 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

"with such fearful rapidity that a man on horseback can 
with difficulty escape. It rolls over the scanty herbage 
Hke an overflowing stream, and, when it meets with 
thicket and shrubs, it flares up mth \vild wrath. Thus 
traversing large tracts of country in a short time, its 
raging course can only be checked by a river or a lake. 
At .night such conflagrations must present a terrible 
appearance, when far and wide the horizon is lit up 
with a sea of flame. Even the bravest heart loses its 
courage at the appalling sight. The cowardly and 
hesitating are soon destroyed, but one who has suffi- 
cient presence of mind can save himself, if, while the 
flames are yet a great way off", he kindle the grass 
in his neighbourhood. He thus lays waste a space in 
which the approaching fire can find no sustenance, and 
in this he himself takes refuge. Thus only with fire 
can man contend against fire with success. 

This weapon is often used by one tribe against another, 
and the desolation thus caused is terrible. It is often 
used by a runaway couple to secure themselves against 
pursuit. As long as no Avmd blows they can easily fly 
before the slowly-advancing fire; but it often happens 
that the flames are hurried forward by the least breath 
of wind, and the fugitives find a united death m the 
very means they had taken to secure their safety. 

It is remarkable that the imposing aspects and most 
frequent natural phenomena of the desert do not fail 
to impress even the nomads who habitually witness 
them. As we were crossmg the high plateau of Kaflan 



THE CARAVAN IN THE DESERT. 73 

Kii', which forms part of Ustyort, running towards the 
north-east, the horizon was often adorned with the 
most beautiful Fata Morgana. This phenomenon is un- 
doubtedly to be seen in the greatest perfection in the 
hot, but dry, atmosphere of the deserts of Central 
Asia, and affords the most splendid optical illusions 
which one can imagine. I was always enchanted "with 
these pictures of cities, towers, and castles dancing m 
the air, of vast caravans, horsemen engaged in combat, 
and mdividual gigantic forms which continually dis- 
appeared from one place to reappear in another. As 
for my nomad companions, they regarded the neigh- 
bourhoods where these phenomena are observed "with 
no little awe. According to their opinion these are 
ghosts of men and cities which formerly existed there, 
and now at certain times roll about m the air. Nay, 
our Kervan hashi asserted that he also saw the same 
figures m the same places, and that we ourselves, if 
we should be lost in the desert, would after a term of 
years begin to hop about and dance in the air over the 
spot where we had perished. 

These legends, which are continually to be heard 
among the nomads, and relate to a supposed lost civi- 
lization in the desert, are not far removed from the 
new European theory, which mamtains that such tracts 
of country have smik into their present desolation, not 
so much through the operation of natural laws as 
through changes in their social state. As examples 
are cited the great vSahara of Africa and the desert of 



74 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

central Arabia, where cultivable land is not so much 
wanting as industrious hands. As regards these last 
countries, the assertion is probably not without some 
truth, but it certainly cannot be extended to the deserts 
of Central Asia. On certain spots, as Mero, Mangish- 
lak, Ghergen, and Otrar, there was in the last century 
more cultivation than at present; but, taken as the 
whole, these Asiatic steppes were always, as far back 
as the memory of man goes, howlmg wildernesses. 
The vast tracts which stretch for many days' journeys 
without one drop of drinkable water, the expanses — 
many hundred miles in extent — of deep loose sand, 
the extreme violence of the chmate, and such like 
obstacles, defy even modern art and science to cope 
with them. " God," said a central Asiatic to me, 
" created Turkestan and its inhabitants in his wrath ; 
for as long as the bitter, saline taste of their springs 
exist, so long will the hearts of the Turkomans be full 
of anger and mahce." 



CHAPTER V. 

THE TENT AND ITS INHABITANTS. 

An able critic of my " Travels in Central Asia" wrote , 
— " Mr. Yambery wandered because he lias the wild 
spirit of dervishism strong within hun." On first read- 
mg this it struck me as a httle too strong, and I shall 
ever protest against such attribution of the title of 
vagabond, however refined may be the terms in which 
it is couched. Still I must candidly confess that the 
tent, the snail shell of the nomad, if I may be allowed 
so to call it, has left on my memory an ineffaceable im- 
pression. It certainly is a very curious feehng which 
comes over one when he compares the light tent with 
such seas of stone buildings as make up our European 
cities. The vice of dervishism is, to be sure, contagi- 
ous, but happily not for everybody, so that there is no 
danger in accompanying me for a little while to Central 
Asia, and glancing at the contrast there presented to 
our fixed, stable mode of fife. 

It is almost noonday. A Kirghiz family, which has 
packed house and household furniture on the backs of 
a few camels, moves slowly over the desert towards a 
spot indicated to them by the raised lance of a distant 



76 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

horseman. The caravan rests, according to nomad 
notions of rest, while thus on the march, to become 
hvely and busy when they settle themselves down to 
repose according to our ideas. Nevertheless, the elder 
women seated on the bunches of camels (for the younger 
ones travel on foot), grudge themselves repose even 
then, and occupy then* time in spinning a sort of yarn 
for sacks out of the coarser camels' hair. Only the 
marriageable daughter of the family enjoys the privi- 
lege of being completely at leisure on her shambling 
beast. She is polishing her necklace of coins, Russian, 
Ancient Bactrian, Mongolian, or Chinese, which hangs 
down to her waist. So engrossed is she in her employ- 
ment, that an European numismatist might take her 
for a fellow connoisseur ; nevertheless not a movement 
of the young Kirghizes, who seek to distmguish them- 
selves by all manner of equestrian gymnastics, as they 
caracole around the caravan, escapes her notice. 

At last the spot fixed on by the guide is reached. 
An inhabitant of cities might imagine that now the 
greatest confusion would arise. But no — everybody 
has his appointed office, everybody knows what he has 
to do, everything has its fixed place. While the pater- 
familias unsaddles his cooled horse and lets him loose 
on the pasture, the younger lads collect, with frightful 
clamour, the sheep and the camels, Avhich are only too 
disposed to wander. They must stay to be milked. 
Meanwhile the tent has been taken down. The old 
matron seizes on the latticed framework aiid fixes it 



THE TENT AND ITS INHABITANTS. 77 

in its place, spitting wildly right and left as she does 
so. Another makes fast the bent rods which form the 
vaulting of the roof. A third sets on the top of all a 
sort of round cover or hd, which serves the double 
purpose of chimney and window. While they are 
covering the woodwork with curtains of felt, the chil- 
dren inside have already hung up the provision-sacks, 
and placed the enormous tripod on the crackling fire. 
This is all done in a few moments. Magical is the 
erection, and as magical is the disappearance of the 
nomad's habitation. Still, however, the noise of the 
sheep and camels, of screaming women and crying 
children, resounds about the tent. They form, indeed, 
a strange chorus in the midst of the noonday silence of 
the desert. Milking-time, the daily harvest of these 
pastoral tribes is, however, the busiest time in the 
twenty-four hours. Especial trouble is given by the 
greedy children, whose swollen bellies are the result 
and evidence of an unlimited appetite for milk. The 
poor women have much to suffer from the vicious or 
impatient disposition of the beasts; but, although the 
men are standing by, the smallest help is rigorously 
refused, as it Avould be held the greatest disgrace for a 
man to take any part in work appointed to women. 

Once, when I had, m Ettrek, obtained by begging 
a small sack of wheat, and was about to grind it in a 
handmill, the Turkomans around me burst out into 
shouts of laughter. Shocked and surprised, I asked 
the reason of their scornful mirth, when one approached 



78 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

me in a friendly manner and said: " It is a shame for 
you to take in hand woman's work. But MoUahs and 
Hadjis are of course deficient in secular savoir faire^ 
and one pardons them a great many such mistakes." 

After the supply of milk has been collected, and all 
the bags of skins (for vessels of wood or of earthenware 
are purely articles of luxury) have been filled, the 
cattle, small and great, disperse themselves over the 
wide plain. The noise gradually dies away. The no- 
mad retires into his tent, raises the lower end of the 
felt curtam, and while the west wind, rusthng through 
the fretted wood-work, lulls him to sleep, the women 
outside set to work on a half- finished piece of felt. It 
is certainly an interesting sight to see how six, often 
more, of the daughters of the desert, in rank and file, 
roll out under their firm footsteps the felt which is 
wrapped up between two rush mats. An elderly lady 
leads this industrial dance and gives the tune. It is 
she who can always tell in what place the stuff will be 
loose or uneven. The preparation of the felt, without 
question the simplest fabric which the mind of man 
has invented, is still in the same stage among these 
wandering tribes as when first discovered. The most 
common colour is grey. Particoloured felt is an article 
of luxury, and snowy white is only used on the most 
solemn occasions. Carpets are only to be found among 
the richer tribes, such as the Turkomans and the 
(Ezbegs, as they require more skill in their manufacture 
and a closer contact with more advanced civihzation. 



THE TENT AND ITS INHABITANTS. 79 

The inwoven patterns are for the most part taken from 
European pocket-handkerchiefs and chintzes; and I 
was always surprised at the skill with which the women 
copied them, or, what is still more surprising, unitated 
them from memory after having once seen them. 

While the poor women are fatiguing themselves with 
their laborious occupation, their lord and master is ac- 
customed to snore through his noonday siesta. Soon 
the cattle return from their pasture ground and collect 
around the tent. Scarcely does the afternoon begm 
to grow cooler, than the migrating house is in a trice 
broken u]^, everything replaced on the backs of the 
camels, and the whole party in full uiarch. This is 
already the second day of their journey, and yet all, 
men and beasts, are as hvely as if they had dwelt for 
years on the spot, and, at length released from the 
talons of ennui, were delighted at the prospects of a 
change. 

Long after sunset, while the endless waste of the 
desert is gradually being over-canopied by the clear 
starry heaven, the caravan still plods steadily, in order 
to rest during the colder hours of the night under the 
shelter of their warm felts. Quickly is their colossal 
batterie de cuisine placed on the fire ; still more quickly 
is it emptied. No European can have any idea of the 
voracious appetite of a nomad. 

The caravan has been scarcely an hour encamped 
before everybody has supped and retired to rest; the 
older members of the family within the 1 eat, the younger 



80 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

ones in the open air, their flocks around them. Only 
where a marriageable maiden lives is there any move- 
ment to be found. Among the nomad tribes of Cen- 
tral Asia, Islamism has not succeeded in carrying into 
effect its rigorous restrictions on the social intercourse 
of the sexes. The harem is here entirely unknown. 
The young nomad always knows by what star to direct 
his course in order to find the tent of his adored on 
the trackless desert. His appearance is seldom un- 
expected. The nom^d young lady has already divined 
from what quarter the hoof-tramp will sound through 
the nightly stillness, and has akeady taken 'up an ad- 
vanced post in that direction. It is scarcely necessary to 
observe that the conversation of the two children of the 
desert, m this their tender rendezvous, is not quite 
in unison with our ideas of sesthetical propriety; but 
poetry is to be found everywhere, nay, I might say, 
is more at home in the desert than m these western 
countries. Sometimes a whole company of loving 
couples come together, and on such occasions the dia- 
logue, which must be in rhyme and adorned with the 
richest flowers of Tartar metaphor, seems as if it would 
never come to an end. I was at first enchanted with 
listening to such conversation; but how irritated I 
was when I had to pass the night m the same tent 
with such amorous society, and in spite of all the 
fatigue of the day could not find quiet slumbers to 
refresh me ! 

The above is but a faint picture of the life of the 



THE TENT AND ITS INHABITANTS. 81 

nomads during the more agreeable portion of the year. 
In winter, especially in the more elevated regions, 
where severe cold prevails, this wandering life loses 
everythmg which can give it the least tinge of poetry 
in our eyes. Even the inhabitants of the cities of 
Central Asia marvel that the nomads can support life 
in the bleak open country, amid fearful storms and 
long weeks of snow. Indeed, with a cold of SO"^ 
Reaumur, it cannot be very pleasant to hve in a tent ; 
still even this occasions no serious mconvenience to 
the hardy child of Nature. Himself wrapped up in a 
double suit of clothes, he doubles the felt hangings of 
his tent, which is pitched in a valley or some other 
sheltered spot. Besides this the number of its inha- 
bitants is increased, and when the saksaul (the root of 
a tree hard as stone and covered with knobs) begms 
to give out its heat, which lasts for hours, the want of 
a settled home is quite forgotten. The family circle 
is drawn closer round the hearth. The daughter of 
the house must continually hand round the skin of 
kimis. This favourite beverage opens the heart and 
looses the tongue. When, furthermore, a bakhshi 
(troubadour) is present to enliven the winter evenings 
mth his lays, then even the howling of the tempest 
without serves as music. 

When no extraordinary natural accidents, such as 
sand-storms or snow-storms, break in upon his regular 
course of life, the nomad is happy ; indeed, I may say, 
as happ}' as any civilization in the world could make 



82 Sketches of central asia. 

him. As the nations of Central Asia have but very 
few wants, poverty is rare among them, and where 
it occurs, is by no means so depressing as with us. 
The hves of the inhabitants of the desert would glide 
peacefully away, were it not for the tendency to in- 
dulge in feuds and forays — a leading feature in their 
character. War, everywhere a curse, there draws 
after it the most terrible consequences which can be 
conceived. Without the smallest pretext for such 
violence, a tribe which feels itself stronger often falls 
upon the weaker ones. All who are able to bear arms 
conquer or die ; the women, children, and herds of the 
fallen are divided as booty among their conquerors. 
Often does it happen that a family, which in the even- 
ing lay down to rest in all the blessedness of security, 
find themselves in the mornmg despoiled of parents, 
of freedom, and of property, and dragged mto captivity 
far apart from one another ! 

Among the Turkomans near Khiva I saw many 
Kirghiz prisoners, who had formerly belonged to well- 
to-do famihes. The unfortunate creatures, who had 
been but a short time before rich and iudependent, and 
cherished by parents, accommodated themselves to the 
change of their fortunes as to some ordinary dispensa- 
tion of nature. With what honesty and diligence did 
they attach themselves to their masters' interests! 
How they loved and caressed their masters' children ! 
Yet these same masters were they who had robbed 
them of their whole property, murdered their father, 



THE TENT AND ITS INHABITANTS. 83 

and branded them for ever witli the opprobrious title 
of "Kul" (slave.) 

Buddhism, Christianity, Mohammedanism, have one 
after the other attempted to force their way into the 
steppes of upper Asia. The first and the last have 
succeeded to some extent in making good their footing, 
but the nomads have, nevertheless, remained the same 
as they were at the time of the conquests of the Arabs, 
or of the campaigns of Alexander — the same as they 
were described by Herodotus. I shall never forget 
the conversations about the state of the world which I 
had mth elderly Turkomans and Kirghizes. It is true 
that one can picture to oneself beforehand a specimen 
of ancient simphcity, but that is still somethuig quite 
different from seeing before you one of these still 
standing columns of a civihzation several millenniums 
old. 

The Central Asiatic still speaks of Rome (Rum, 
modern Turkey) as he spoke in the days of the Caesars ; 
and when one hstens to a grey-beard as he depicts the 
mio-ht and the o;reatness of this land, one mi2:ht ima- 
gine that the invincible legions had only yesterday 
combated the Parthians and that he was present as an 
auxihary. That his Rum (Turkey) is a state of but 
miserable proportions in comparison with old Rome, is 
what he cannot believe. He has learned to associate 
Avith that name glory and power. At the most, China 
may be sometimes compared to Rome for might and 
resources; although the legends that are told of this 



84 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

latter empire dwell rather on the arts and the beauty 
than on the valour of the Chinese people. Russia is 
regarded as the quintessence of all fraud and cunning, 
by which means alone she has of late years contrived 
to effect her conquests. As for England, it is well 
known that the late emir of Bokhara, on the first occa- 
sion ui which he came into contact with the British, 
was quite indignant "that the Ingiliz, whose name had 
only risen to notice withm a few years, should dare to 
call themselves Dowlet (government) when addressing 
him." 

Extremely surprising to the stranger is the hospi- 
tality which is to be found among the nomads of Cen- 
tral Asia. It is more abounding than perhaps in any 
other portion of the east. Amongst the Turks, Per- 
sians, and Arabs, there still linger famt memories of 
this old dut}^, but our European tourists have had, I 
believe, ample opportunity of satisfying themselves 
that all the washing of feet, slaughter of sheep, and 
other good offices, are often only performed in the 
hope of a rich Bakhshish^ or Pislikesh^ (as they say in 
Persian.) It is true that the Koran says, " Honour a 
guest, even though he be an infidel; " but this doing 
honour is generally the echo of orders issued from 
some consulate or embassy. Quite othermse in Cen- 
tral Asia. There hospitality is, I may say, almost in- 
stinctive ; for a nomad may be cruel, fierce, perfidious, 
but never inhospitable. 

One of my fellow-beggars went, during my sojourn 



THE TENT AND ITS INHABITANTS. 85 

among the Turkomans, on a romid of begging visits, 
having fii'st dressed himself in his worst suit of rags. 
Ha^TQg wandered about the whole day he came at 
evening to a lonely tent, for the purpose of lodging 
there for the night. On entermg he was saluted in 
the customary friendly manner; nevertheless he soon 
observed that the master of the poverty-stricken estab- 
hshment seemed to be in great embarrassment, and 
moved hither and thither as if lookuig for something. 
The beggar began to feel very uncomfortable when at 
last his host approached him, and, deeply blushing, 
begged him to lend him a few krans^ in order that he 
might be able to provide the necessary supper, inas- 
much as he himself had nothing but dried fish, and he 
mshed to set somethmg better before his guest. Of 
course it was impossible to refuse such a request. My 
comrade opened the purse which he carried under his 
rags, and when he had given his host five krans^ every- 
thing seemed to be satisfactorily arranged. The meal 
was eaten amidst the most fi-iendly conversation, and 
when it was ended, the softest felt carpet was assigned 
to the stranger as his couch, and ui the morning he 
was dismissed with the customary honours. 

" I was scarcely gone half an hour from the tent," 
so my friend related his adventure subsequently to 
me, " when a Turkoman came rmmmg towards me, 
and ^^T.th ^dolent threats demanded my purse. How 
great was my astonishment when I recognised iii the 
person of the robber no othSr than my host of the pre- 



86 SItETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. . 

vious night ! I thought he was joking, and began to 
address him in a friendly manner ; but he grew only 
more and more serious. So, in order to avoid rni- 
pleasant consequences, there remained nothing for nie 
but to hand over my purse, a few leaves of tea, my 
comb, and my knife, in one word, my whole property. 
Having so done, I was about to proceed on my way, 
when he held me back, and opening my — that is to 
say now his — ^purse, and taking out five krans^ gave 
them to me with these words : — ' Take my debt of 
yesterday evening. We are now quits, and you can 
go on your way.' " 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE COURT OF KHIVA. 

The courts of oriental princes have been frequently 
and variously described. Beginning with the shore of 
the Bosphorus, where Dolma Bagtsche, Beshiktash 
and Serayburun furnish the first pictures in the pano- 
rama, and ranging as far as the palaces of Pekin and 
Yedo, we have read again and again of the love 
for ostentation and empty s23lendour, the ghtter of 
gold and diamonds of oriental life. But to complete 
the series, a few sketches of hfe at the court of Tur- 
kestan sovereigns are wanting, and the description of 
such may not, therefore, be deemed sujoeriluous. 

My readers must not expect either to be dazzled, or 
to have their amazement and admiration excited, and 
yet it ^vill repay the trouble to accompany me through 
the tortuous streets of Khiva and the bazaar with its 
vaulted roof to the Ark (the Royal Castle.) Like all 
the residences of sovereigns in Central Asia, this castle 
is strangely fortified and surrounded by a double wall. 
Through a narrow gate we enter into the first court, 
which is crowded mth the royal body-guard and other 
soldiers and servants. JSfear the entrance two cannons 



55 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

are planted, brought thither by the mighty Nadir, and 
left behind on his hasty retreat. They are decorated 
with pretty symmetrical ornaments, and seem to have 
been made at Delhi. After having passed the second 
gate, we enter a more spacious court, with a mean 
looking building on one side, not unhide an open coach- 
house ; it is here that the high officials pass the hours 
of office, the Mehter (Minister of the Interior) presi- 
ding. To the left of this building is a kmd of guard- 
house, in which divers servants, pohcemen and execu- 
tioners live during the day time, awaiting the commands 
of their royal master. A small gate leads between 
these two buildings, to the residence of His Majesty of 
Khiva. On the outside it resembles a poor mud-hut, 
like all the other houses m the town, and is of course 
without windows, nor is any particular luxury to be 
met with inside, except several large and valuable car- 
pets, a few sofas and round cushions, together with a 
considerable number of chests — the entire furniture of 
this place — which serve in some degree to remind us 
of the princely rank of the master. The number of 
apartments is very small, and as every where the case, 
is divided into the Harem, (the rooms set apart for the 
women,) and the Selgihidjay, (the reception hall.) 

Nowhere are any signs of splendour perceptible; 
the large train of followers alone mark the distinction, 
the lacqueys are the sole insignia of the ruler. Let us 
pass them in review before us. At the head of the 
household is the Desturkhandji, (literally, the man 



THE COUKT OF KHIVA. 89 

who spreads the table cloth,) whose peculiar office is 
to superintend the royal table. He is present during 
dinner, clothed in full armour and state dress, and on 
him devolves the mspection and control of the entire 
number of servants. Next to him follows the Meh- 
rem, a kmd of valet de chambre in officio, but in reality 
rather a privy councillor, who shares in the business 
of the state besides his immediate domestic aifairs, and, 
conjointly with the former, exercises the most power- 
ful influence upon his royal master. Then follows the 
rest of the servants, of whom each has his distmct 
office. The Ashpez, or cook, prepares the food, whilst 
the Ashmehter serves it. The Sherbetshi prepares 
tea, sherbet, and other drinks, but he is expected to be 
skilled besides m the decoction of wonder-working 
ehxirs. The Pay eke is entrusted with the tchilim 
(pipe,) which at court is made of gold or silver, and 
must be rej^lenished with fresh water every time it is 
filled with tobacco. This office does not exist in any 
other court in Central Asia, tobacco being strictly for- 
bidden by law. His Tartar Majesty has no dressmg 
room, it is true, but, nevertheless, several servants are 
appointed to assist at the toilet. Whilst the Shilaptshi 
kneeling holds the wash-hand basui, the Kumgandshi 
(the man who holds the can or jug) pours the water 
ft-om a silver or golden vessel, and the Rumaldshi is 
ready, as soon as the two former have withdrawn, to 
throw the towel to the prince, holding it with the tips 
of his fingers. The Khan has an especial Sertarash 



90 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

(who shaves the head,) who is expected to have nun- 
ble fingers and at the same time a skilful hand for 
squeezhig the skull, a favourite operation throughout 
the east. Then the prince possesses a Ternaktshi, or 
nail cutter, a Khadimdshi, whose duty it is to knead 
and pununel his back, also to kneel upon him and make 
his limbs crack, whenever the Khan, after long fatigue, 
wishes to refresh himself. Lastly, there is a Toshekt- 
shi, or bed maker, whose office it is to spread out at 
night the soft pieces of felt or the mattresses. The 
magnificent harness, saddles and weapons are in charge 
of the Khaznadshi (treasurer,) who, whenever the 
sovereign rides out in pubhc, walks beside him The 
Djigadj, or keeper of the plumes, walks at the head of 
the train of servants. 

In dress and food, the prince's household is httle 
distinguished from that of rich merchants or officials 
of rank. The kmg wears the same heavy cap of sheep- 
skin, the same clumsy boots, stuifed out with several 
yards of linen rags, the same thickly- wadded coats of 
print or silk as his subjects, and, like them, endures 
in this Siberian costume, under the oppressive heat of 
July, a state of fearful perspiration. On the whole, 
the position of the Prince of Kharezm is one httle to 
be envied, nay, I feel inclined to say, it is far more 
wretched than that of other Eastern princes. In a 
country, where pillage and murder, anarchy and law- 
lessness, are the rule, and not the exception, a sovereign 
has to maintain his authority by inspiring his subjects 



THE COURT OF KHIVA. 91 

with the utmost dread and almost superstitious terror 
for his person ; never with affection. Even those near- 
est to him fear him for his unhmited power ; and wife 
and children, as well as relations, not unfrequently 
attempt his Hfe. At the same time, the sovereign is 
expected to be the model of Islamitic virtue and OEzbeg 
manners and customs ; every most triflmg, msignificant 
error of his Majesty, becomes the talk of the town; 
and although nobody would venture to blame him for 
very considerable offences, yet m the former case it is 
the influential MoUahs who would feel affronted,— a 
result entirely opposed to the interests of the sovereign. 
The Khan, hke every orthodox Mussulman, is obliged 
to leave his bed before sun-rise, and to be present at 
the morning prayer m full assembly. It lasts rather 
more than half an hour, after which he partakes of 
several dishes of tea, seasoned with fat and salt. Not 
unfrequently some of the learned Mollahs are mvited, 
hi order to enliven the breakfast, by explauiing some 
sacred precept or argumg upon some religious ques- 
tion, of which his highness rarely of course understands 
anything. Profound discussions generally invite sleep, 
and no sooner does his Majesty begin to snore aloud, 
when the learned men take it as a signal to withdraw. 
This sleep is called the morning doze, and lasts from 
two to three hours. When it is over, the selam (re- 
ception) of the ministers and other high dignitaries 
commences, and the Khan enters m full earnest upon 
his duties as sovereign. Consultations are held as to 



92 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

the mauraiidiiig expeditions to be undertaken, politics 
are discussed in reference to the neighbouring state of 
Bokhara, the Yomut- and Tchaudor- Turkomans, the 
Kasaks, and at present probably the Russians, who are 
pushmg their advances nearer and nearer; — or the 
governors of the provmces and the tax-gatherers, 
who had been sent out over the country, have to sub- 
mit to the Khan and his ministers their several accounts. 
Every farthmg has to be paid over with the most scru- 
pulous accuracy, and woe to that man in whose account 
the smallest error is detected ; it may happen that he 
is dismissed, leaAdng his head behuid. And now, after 
haAdng transacted for several hours the ordmary busi- 
ness of the state, breakfast is served, consisting for the 
greater part of rather light food, that is to say, "hght" 
for an (Ezbeg digestion — the dejemier a lafourchette of 
his Majesty of Khiva sufficing in all probabdity for 
several of our active workmo- men at home. Durino; 
this meal all present have to stand round respectfully 
and look on, and after ha\Tiig finished, he invites one 
or the other of his favourites to sit do-s^^i and play with 
him at chess,— an amusement which is contmued until 
the time for mid-day prayer. This lasts about an 
hour. When it is over, his JMajesty proceeds to the 
outer com't, and takmg his seat on a kmd of terrace, 
the arz (public audience) takes place, to which every 
rank, every class is admitted, — men, women, and chil- 
dren, either ui the greatest neghge or even half naked. 
All crowd round the entrance, where amidst noise and 



THE COUET OF KHIVA. 93 

shouting they wait for audience. Each in turn is ad- 
mitted, but only one person at a time, who is allowed 
to approach quite close to his sovereign ; to speak out 
freely and "without reserve, to make entreaty or com- 
plaint, nay, to engage even in the most violent alterca- 
tion with the Khan, the smallest sign from whom would 
suffice to deliver his subject, without any reason what- 
ever, mto the hands of the executioner. Thus the 
East is, and ever was from times immemorial, the land 
of the most striking contradictions. The inexperienced 
may interpret this as love of strict justice. I, how- 
ever, see in it nothing but a whimsical habit of de- 
meanour, permitting one person to defy the royal au- 
thority m the coarsest terms of speech, while another 
forfeits his life for the smallest oiFence against the rules 
of propriety. 

At the arz not only all great and important law- 
suits are settled, and sentences of death pronounced 
and executed; but even triflmg differences are not 
unfrequently adjusted, as for instance, a quarrel be- 
tween a husband and wife, or between one man and 
his neighbour on account of some few pence or the 
stealing of a hen. No complainant whatever can be 
refused a hearing; and although the Khan may send 
him to the Kadi, yet he must first listen to whatever 
he has to say. The afternoon prayer alone puts an 
end to this wearisome occupation. Later in the day 
the prince takes his customary ride on horseback out- 
side the town, and usually returns just before sunset. 



94 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA, 

Evening prayers again are said in full assembly, and 
these ended, the prince retires to take his supper. 
The servants, and all those who do not live in the 
palace, withdraw, and the king remains alone mth his 
confidants. Supper is a luxurious meal, and lasts 
longer than any other. Spirituous drinks are seldom 
taken by the sovereigns of Khiva and Bokhara, although 
the other members of the royal family and the grandees 
frequently transgress on this point, and indulge in the 
practice to excess. After the supper, singers and 
musicians make their appearance, or jugglers, with 
their various performances. Singing is very popular 
in Khiva, and the native singers of this place are the 
most renowned in Turkestan, and indeed throughout 
the whole Mahomedan East of Asia. The instrument 
upon which they excel is called girdshek, and bears a 
general resemblance to our violin. It has a longer 
neck and three strings, one of wire and two of silk ; 
the bow, too, is like our bow. Then there are the 
tambur and dutara, on which instruments the Bakhshi 
plays the accompaniment to his songs, improvised in 
praise of some popular hero of the day; whereas at 
the royal court they select for the most part ghaseles 
from Nevai and the Persian poets. The young princes 
are instructed in music, and it often happens that the 
Khan invites them to perform either alone or with the 
troubadours at court. Particular merriment and o-ood 
humour, such as presides at the drinking-bouts at 
Teheran, or at the banquets in the palaces on the 
Bosphorus, is not to be met with at the court of (Ezbeg 



THE COURT OF KHIVA. 95 

princes ; it i« unknown here, or at least such is not the 
custom. The national character of the Tartar is chiefly 
marked by seriousness and firmness; to dance, jump, 
or show high spirits, is in his eyes only worthy of 
women or children. I have never seen an (Ezbeg per- 
son of good manners indulge in immoderate laughter. 
About two hours after sunset the Khan retires to 
the harem, or to his sleepmg apartment, and with it 
his daily labours as sovereign are ended. The harem 
is here very diiferent from those of the Turkish or 
Persian court. The number of women is limited, the 
fauy-like luxuriousness of life in a harem is entirely 
wanting, strict chastity and modesty pervade it; and 
in this respect the court of Khiva is eminently superior 
to all Eastern courts. The j)resent Khan has only two 
la^vful wives, although the Koran allows four. These 
are always chosen from among the royal family; and 
it is an extremely rare thing for the daughter of a dig- 
nitary, who does not belong to the family, to be raised 
to this rank. The Khan, although possessing the same 
unlimited power over his wife as over any of his sub- 
jects, treats her without severity, and on the whole 
with tenderness, unless she be found guilty of any par- 
ticular oiFence. She possesses no titles or prerogatives 
whatever; her court is distinguished in nothing from 
the other harems, but that she has more female servants 
and slaves about her; the former consisting of the 
wives or daughters of oflicials, the latter for the most 
part of Persian and a few dark Arab women. The 
dauo'hters of Iran are far inferior to the Gllzbeg women 



96 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

in personal beauty, and their mistress has- no cause to 
fear from either of them any rivalry. As regards their 
intercourse with the outer world, the princesses of 
Khiva are far more restricted than the mves of other 
Eastern potentates. The rules of modesty require 
that they should pass the greater part of the day in 
the harem, where comparatively Kttle time is lavi,^hed 
upon the embellishments of the toilet. And in fact, 
the ladies of the harem have very httle leisure for idle- 
ness, since in accordance with the custom of the country 
it is desirable that the greater part of the clothes, car- 
pets, and other stuffs, for the use of the prince, should 
be prepared by the hand of his wife. This custom 
reminds one strongly of the patriarchal mode of life of 
which Turkestan, in spite of its roughness, has preserved 
many remnants of simple refinement. 

The princess of Khiva is permitted occasionally to 
visit the neighbouring royal summer palaces and cha- 
teaux, never on horseback, as is the general custom in 
Persia, but in a large carriage, pamted with gaudy 
colours, and completely covered and shut in with red 
carpets and shawls. Before and behmd the vehicle 
trot a couple of horsemen, furnished with white staves. 
On her progress all rise respectfully from their seats 
and salute her with a profound bow. Nobody thinks 
of daring to cast a look of curiosity into the interior of 
the carriage ; not only would this be useless, so closely 
is it covered, but such temerity would have to be 
atoned for by death, whether the object be the wife of 



THE COURT OF KHIVA. 97 

the sovereign or any subordinate official. Whenever 
the Queen of Persia takes a ride on horseback, the 
numerous ferrash (servants) who head the cavalcade 
cut right and left with their sabres at the crowd, who 
disperse in terror and confusion, in spite of their eager 
curiosity. Such a proceeding, however, is not neces- 
sary with the grave (Ezbegs ; for here life in the harem 
is not regulated with the same severity, and it is well 
known that the less strictly its laws are administered, 
the less frequently they are transgressed. 

During the summer the royal family inhabit the 
castles of Rafenek and Tashhauz, near Khiva. Both 
were erected m the Persian style by former prmces, 
and are distinguished by possessmg some wmdow-panes 
and small looking-glasses — the latter, especially, being 
considered articles of great luxury in the eyes of the 
people of Khiva. Tashhauz has not been built without 
taste. The chateau stands in a large garden; it has 
several reservoirs, and resembles the castle of Nigaris- 
tan, near the town gate, Shimran at Teheran. The 
winter is spent m the town, but when here his Q^zbeg 
highness occupies a hght tent which is pitched mside 
the walls; and herem he shows no bad taste, for the 
romid-shaped dwelling, made of snow-white felt, with 
a cheerful fire burning brightly m the middle, is not 
only quite as warm as any buildmg of stone, but there 
is something pleasant about it, and it makes a far less 
gloomy impression than the "svmdowless mud-huts of 
Turkestan. 

7 



CHAPTEE YII 

JOY AND SORROW. 

Joy and sorrow are undoubtedly the mirror, in which 
not only is the character of a people clearly reflected, 
but which likewise offers the most faithful image of 
their manners and customs. In joy and sorrow every 
sign of dissimulation vanishes, man shows himself in 
his true colours, and the lights and shades of his tem- 
perament become at once apparent ; for, in any matter 
of real feeling, it is vain to try to speak and act diffe- 
rently to the dictates of this potent voice within us. 
And nowhere is a better opportunity oflfered for study- 
ing the various features of joy and sorrow, than at a 
birth, marriage, and death, — those three stages in the 
great family of mankind. The main outlines are no 
doubt everyivhere the same, but in the colouring and 
composition a variety is produced, not found even 
among civilized nations. Ethnography has frequently 
thrown light on this subject in different parts of the 
world ; but we must confess that Central Asia in this 
respect is wrapt in considerable obscurity. To attempt 
to dispel this darkness may therefore not be deemed 
superfluous; and, the savage Polynesian and Central 



JOY AND SORKOW. 99 

African having resisted vainly the spirit of inquiry, 
we will in like manner raise the veil from the rude 
and suspicious (Ezbeg. It is a first attempt, and con- 
sequently a feeble one. 

1. Birth. 

As soon as a woman in Central Asia (I refer to a settled 
family), about to become a mother, feels the first pangs 
of childbirth, she sends for her neighbour, her nearest 
relations, a midmfe, and a nurse for the child. A new 
felt or carpet is spread out m the tent or room, and 
upon this the woman is placed, with her legs doubled 
under her. As the pains increase, her nearest rela- 
tions squat round her ; and she, flinging both her arms 
round the neck of two of her most intimate friends, 
the midwife seizes her by the thighs, and moves her 
about, until she has been dehvered of the child. She 
is now placed upon a bed, the relations takmg the 
mother under their care, and the midwife having charge 
of the child. The former is restored to strength by 
friction on the temples and pulse, whilst the midwife 
sets about cuttmg out swaddling-clothes from a new 
piece of linen, in which she wraps the infant, strictly 
observing the various superstitious customs. Then 
takmg the remamder of the hnen to the mother, she 
informs her of the sex and appearance of her child; 
she also is the bearer of the happy tidings to the father, 
from whom she receives a present on this occasion. 
In fact, the kindik kesen (swaddhng-clothes maker) 



100 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

plays a very important part in the whole affair For 
three days the child is invisible to every one, during 
which time it is frequently smeared over with butter, 
and, to prevent any redness in them, which is considered 
extremely objectionable, the eyes are washed with salt 
water. It is then clothed in a httle shu-t, and finally 
it is laid upon a pillow of camel's hair, and exhibited. 
Now all the friends and acquaintances pay their visits, 
and the husband offers a present to his wife, who is 
anxious to hear from her guests their prognostications 
as to the future of her child, which experienced ma- 
trons draw from the limbs and movements of its little 
body. Thus for instance, it is a bad sign, if it has 
entered the world with the left foot or hand first ; a 
small apple of the eye augurs that her offsprmg will 
be a thief; a broad forehead denotes valour ; a restless 
kicking of the feet future wealth, and so forth. Every 
one scrutinizes the infant with insignificant gestures; 
and well might the fear of the evil eye make the mother 
uneasy, but that she herself has tied the white magic- 
stone on the left arm of her child. 

After the chille (forty days) have elapsed, festivities 
begin. In the case of a girl, not much is done ; but if 
the child be a boy, even the poorest make every effort to 
gather round them a considerable number of guests, 
and to feast them as sumptuously as possible. Grand 
banquets, horse-racing, wrestlmg and music, are the 
order of the day; and finally, a special celebration in 
honour of the birth, the so-caUed Altin Kabak, takes 



JOY AND SOKROW. 101 

place, which consists in hanging up a golden or silver 
ball on the top of a high tree, and whosoever brings it 
down at the first shot, with either ball or arrow, gains 
this prize, together with a certain number of sheep, 
and often even camels and horses. 

During the first year the greatest care is taken to 
guard the child against cats, evil spirits, and other 
dangerous mfluences, after which time the above-men- 
tioned white stone is replaced by a round-shaped bone, 
and on his little cap are hung the argushtek (a piece 
of wood, carved and dyed mysteriously), a nusha 
(amulet), which must be written by the hand of some 
learned man, several corals, the tooth of an hyaena, 
and, if circumstances permit, a small bag with holy 
earth from the grave of Mohamed. All these thmgs, 
together, often make up a considerable weight, which 
presses very heavily on the head of the poor little crea- 
ture ; but this is not taken into consideration. On the 
contrary; the mother examines with jealous care to' 
see that not a single thing be fomid wanting, each 
being looked upon as a certain means of protection 
against so many dangers. 

In Central Asia, as throughout the whole East, chil- 
dren are allowed but a very few years to devote merely 
to play. Girls are early taught to spin, weave, sew, 
to make cheese, &c. ; and boys are put on horseback, 
and learn to ride as early as then- fifth year, and are 
employed as horsemen in sham fights, and as jockeys 
in horse races in, and even before, their tenth year. 



102 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

It is only the more wealthy parents who give their 
children in charge of a Mollah. When they have learned 
to read, the Korantoy, or the festival of the Koran, is 
celebrated, which is of the same nature as the Chatem- 
diiyiinli of the Osmanhs, with this difference : that the 
latter takes place when the lad has, for the first tune, 
read through the sacred book of Mohamed, and here, 
when he begins reading. 

2. Mareiage. 

Although childhood is of short duration among the 
CEzbegs, yet a youth does not receive the name of 
yighid (a mature youth) until his eighteenth year, nor 
the girl that of kiz (virgm) before she is sixteen years 
old. In the country the mtercourse between the two 
sexes is not m the least degree influenced by the Koran. 
Here, as in Western countries, we see the " rosy play 
of love " represented with all its joys and sorrows, all 
•its fascination and enthusiasm. At first I felt amazed 
that the tenderest of feehno-s should find room m the 
heart of a man in Central Asia, accustomed as he is 
from his earliest youth to robbery and murder, and 
hardened to the tears of widows, orphans and slaves. 
But I had the opportunity of convuicing myself, that 
love is here more frequently the cause of the most 
extraordinary adventures than m other Mahomedan 
countries. The CEzbeg is passionately devoted to 
music and poetry, and hence it is but natural that his 
heart should be susceptible to the emotions of love. 



JOY AND SORROW. 103 

When two young people have formed a mutual at- 
tachment the secret is entrusted to their parents, and 
if these make no objections, the young man opens the 
transaction by despatching two female ambassadors, 
Soutchi Khatin, to ask them formally for the hand of 
their daughter. The parents, for the most part, have 
been previously uiformed of the demand, and receiving 
the embassy with honour and distinction, they express 
their satisfaction at the offer, but refrain from giving 
any decisive answer. To pronounce a regular straight- 
forward " yes," is contrary to the rules of propriety, 
and the young man has to interpret, from trivial allu- 
sions, whether his suit will be granted or not. The 
next thing is to talk over the kalim (marriage portion) 
which the man is ready or able to give for his future 
wife. The question is always, how many times nine, 
z.e., how many times nine sheep, cows, camels or horses, 
or how many times nme ducats, as is the custom in a 
town, the father is to receive for givhig up his daughter. 
The less wealthy give twice nine, the wealthier six times 
nme, and the Khan alone has to pay nine times nine, 
for the purchase of his bride. The kahm having been 
settled, the next question to be considered is one of 
great importance, the eginbash (present in ornaments) 
to be presented by the future husband. It consists of 
eight rings, yiizltk, a semi- tiara (sheghendjin), a tiara 
(shekergiil), a bracelet (bilezik), ear-rmgs (isirga), 
nose-rings (arabek), and ornaments for the neck (on- 
giiliik). This whole set of ornaments must be pre- 



104 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

sented complete, and not a single article wanting; it 
is also previously settled, whether it is to consist of 
gold or silver. No doubt a man in Central Asia has 
to pay dearly for his wife. The negotiations are gene- 
rally a protracted business; and finally, when every 
thing is definitely settled, neighbours and relations 
are invited to the fatiha toy (feast of promise), which 
is celebrated for two days in the home of the future 
bride, and two more in that of the future husband. 
The Mollah, or some grey-beard, announces the new 
arrangement to the guests. He tells them the exact 
purchase-price for the girl, and when the wedding is 
to take place, and concludes his short address with a 
fatiha, after which the festivities begin and are continued 
for four days. In entertainments of this kind, called 
toy, all the guests are assembled m one and the same 
apartment, but form different groups. The upper part 
of the room is occupied by the elderly people; the 
women range themselves along the right side of the 
wall and the girls and lads sit down in some corner, 
generally near the musicians and singers. The toy 
consists not merely in eating and drinkmg, but there 
is also music and singing, and above all, horse-racing, 
which latter forms the chief part of all festivities m 
Central Asia. Prizes of considerable value are given, 
and young and old take the most hvely interest in the 
sport. The race-course varies firom one to three fersakh 
in length; on the former only two year olds are ad- 
mitted, on the latter fuU-grown strong horses. Two 



JOY AND SOEKOW. 105 

villages are chosen, lying at this distance apart, and 
whilst the crowd are assembling in one of them, a toy 
emini, steward, is appointed m the other. It is his duty 
to see that a fair start is effected, and that horse is pro- 
claimed the winner, who first passes the goal which is 
fixed at the entrance of the opposite village. The 
horses are trained for several weeks for the race, and 
are ridden by young boys, who wear on this occasion 
short and tight-fitting clothes, very similar to those 
worn by jockeys in England. 

The interval between the fatiha toy and the marriage 
is fixed according to the age of the "promessa." A 
week before the weddmg, the toyluk (food for the wed- 
dmg) is sent by the man to the house of his future 
wife ; and consists of meat, flour, rice, fat, sugar and 
fruit. Soon after, his mother and nearest female rela- 
tions arrive, who have been invited as guests for several 
weeks. Two days before the beginning of the festival 
the future husband momits his horse, and, surrounded 
by his friends, all of whom, as well as their horses, are 
decked out in the gayest colours, goes also to the home 
of her parents, his father alone remaining behind, not 
for the sake of taking care of the house, but in order 
to make all necessary preparations for the due recep- 
tion of the newly-married couple on their return. 

Meanwhile, in the house of the future wife, where 
the first days of the marriage-feast are celebrated, the 
greatest bustle and activity prevails. The young girls 
have to do the cooking, and are fully employed with 



106 SKETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. 

their gigantic cauldrons. The quantity of food brought 
together for an (Ezbeg wedding is as enormous as the 
appetite of the numerous guests. Whilst the young 
girls are busy at cooking and baking, the young swains 
carry on a lively flirtation with them. The galant 
homme, who is lucky enough to obtain from his be- 
loved a bone or some tit-bit out of the cauldron, re- 
gards the gift as a signal sign of favour, but still more 
lucky is he who gets a few sharp raps with the cooking 
ladle, the highest of all favours, and appreciated far 
above the daintiest morsels. Men and women gather 
round the fire-place in groups, laughing, talking, joking 
and shrieking, whilst musicians play and sing, and 
children shout and yell. These noises are mmgled 
with the bleating of sheep, barking of dogs, neighmg 
of horses and braying of donkeys, while loud above 
the general hubbub is heard the clown's stentorian 
voice in coarse salhes of QEzbeg wit and humour. He 
is the very fife of the whole party. His gesticulations, 
the grimaces with which he accompanies his jests, give 
rise to continual bursts of laughter. Now he mimics 
this person or that, now he tells of some droll prank 
or merry adventure, or whistles hke a bird and mews 
like a cat, and thus he has to continue without mter- 
ruption, although from sheer exertion the perspiration 
runs down his face in streams. 

It is a strange custom that, for the last few days be- 
fore his wedding, the young man is not allowed to 
leave his tent, the young girl and her companions 



JOY AND SOREOW. 107 

watching it, meanwhile, with looks of the utmost curi- 
osity. It is said that friends and relations sometimes 
assist m brmging about a secret tete-a-tete^ but not 
mitil after the marriage ceremony is he permitted to 
mix with the company. This ceremony takes place at 
the end of the second day, in the presence of the whole 
assembly. Each party is represented by two witnesses, 
to whom the Mollah puts the question, whether the 
two young people mutually agree as to the marriage. 
He then proceeds at once to perform the ceremony, 
when the witnesses of the young girl put in their veto. 
They declare (with a feigned reluctance) their unwil- 
luigness to give up the treasure entrusted to them, un- 
less the young man should present them with a certain 
sum of money, or some other present. He finds the 
demand exorbitant, and now begins a bargaining and 
haggling, which continues until both parties are satis- 
fied, when the solemn ceremony is at last performed. 
The MoUah reads aloud the permission of the reis (re- 
hgious chief,) the witnesses attest on oath, and with 
significant gestures, the marriage compact, a short 
prayer is read, and the ceremony is over. 

The bride now hands round fruit and a rich cake, 
and distributes white kerchiefs, garments, or other 
presents among the MoHahs, grey-beards, and above 
aU, the young men who have acted as witnesses. 

The bridegroom now makes his appearance, but is 
not permitted to approach the company nearer than a 
few steps from the door ! and all having partaken of 



108 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

an enormous repast, the festivities in the bride's home 
terminate. 

The elderly, as well as the married folk, now take 
their departure, but the young people remaia, and 
pack the bride and her marriage portion on a sort of 
carriage, and thus accompanied by her female com- 
panions and friends, she sets out for the home of her 
husband. The journey, called bolush, is protracted as 
much as possible, and often when the distance is short, 
one or two long circuits are made, in order to have the 
opportunity of continuing the amusements on the road. 
The bride sits in the first carriage with her future 
sister-in-law, the yomig men accompany the procession 
on horseback, and he who can manage to force his way 
first to the front, riding full gallop, receives from her 
a handkerchief as the prize. The others try to snatch 
it from him, he flies and is pursued, and the chase 
does not cease till he has reached the carriage again. 
The handkerchiefs thus gained are tied to the horse's 
head, and preserved a long time as valuable trophies.* 
Whenever the procession passes a village on the route, 
they are generally stopped, and a toll is demanded. 
The sister-in-law sitting next the bride distributes 
cake, and the passage is agam free. Amidst continued 
sport and chafl^ the bride arrives at the home of her 
husband, and no sooner does she draw near it, than 

* In Hungary we find the same practice prevailing at the present day, for the 
custom of tying coloured handkercliiefs to the heads of the horses at marriage 
feasts most probably has its origin in this ancient usage. 



JOY AND SOEROW. 109 

she wraps her veil around her, changmg her merry ex- 
pression of face to one of the utmost gravity. Her 
father-in-law lifts her from the carriage, conducts her 
into the room, and leads her to a tent improvised with 
curtains and carpets in a corner of the apartment. 
The husband soon follows her, and for the second 
time raises her veil in the presence of his father, who 
compliments his daughter-in-law on her charming ap- 
pearance, the first sight of which he has to requite 
with presents. The young couple are left alone, but 
have to endure for some time the jokes of the noisy 
crowd assembled outside the tent, who are eager to 
exhibit on these occasions their slender store of wit 
and humour. They disperse late at night, and at last 
all is quiet. 

Among the Turkomans and Kirghis it is customary 
for newly-married people to be separated for a whole 
year, after they have lived together for a few days, 
and although the husband is allowed to make his ap- 
pearance in the house of his wife, it must be only at 
night and in the most clandestine mamier. In the 
opinion of the nomads, married life, in its beginning, 
is made all the more pleasant by acting up to the pro- 
verb, " stolen kisses taste the sweetest," and hence 
also the belief, that the first born child must always 
be handsome and vigorous. 

The great national festival, called noruz (new year), 
of the (Ezbegs, has been transmitted to them by the 
Persians, and is celebrated in Central Asia with the 



110 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

same pomp which distinguishes it iii Persia, with this 
only diiference, that the OEzbegs have an old and a 
new noruz. The latter, however, is of no especial 
importance. There is no lack of amusing games, but 
it is very remarkable that some have degenerated into 
the most pernicious gambling. Playing cards (sokti) 
are introduced from Eussia (without the court cards), 
but have not yet come into general use. The favou- 
rite game is the Ashik-game ( Ahsik — ^the anklebones of 
sheep), which is played in the manner of European 
dice with the four anklebones of a sheep, and with a 
degree of passionate excitement of which one can form 
no idea. The upper part of the bone is called tava, the 
lower altchi, and the two sides yantarap. The player 
takes these four little bones into the palm of his hand, 
throws them up and receives half of the stake, if two 
tava or two altchi, and the whole of the stake, if all 
four tava or altchi turn up. The advantage to be 
gained arises entirely from dexterity in throwing; 
trickery is impossible, since the bones are frequently 
changed. This game is equally popular T\dth the 
dweller in settlements as with the nomad; and al- 
though apparently a tri^dal amusement, it not unfre- 
quently happens that the Ashik player, in the heat of 
his passion, stakes the whole of his possessions, nay, 
even his wife. Mankind, in fact, are everywhere the 
same. The refined European makes his offerings at 
rouge et noir upon the green table ; the (Ezbeg on the 
sandy ground with four anklebones. 



JOY AND SORROW. Ill 

3. Death. 

Whenever a member of a family is on the point of 
death, his nearest relations usually leave the house or 
tent. The Mollah, or the elderly among the neigh- 
bours, surround the dying man, watching for the last 
breath and repeating the customary prayers, while 
outside the air is filled with wailing and lamentations. 
If he should have been lying speechless for some time, 
some wool is moistened by his friends, and water 
dropped into his mouth, for fear lest, deprived of his 
speech, he might die of thirst. The roUing of the eyes 
and the contraction of the nose are regarded as symp- 
toms of death ; and no sooner has the dying man drawn 
his last breath than his jaws are tied up, and the body 
is stripped and then covered over. The clothes are 
destroyed, for even the poorest (Ezbeg could not be 
persuaded to put on anything worn by a dying man. 

The corpse is not allowed to be kept longer than 
twelve or fifteen hours, in accordance with the custom 
among all Mahomedan nations. It is not washed upon 
a board, but on a mat (buria), which is immediately 
after burnt; and the relations and neighbours, nay, 
often the whole population of the place, having wept 
and wailed their fill, the body is taken to be buried. 
The settled inhabitants of Central Asia possess ceme- 
teries for their dead, but among the nomads each dead 
body is buried singly in the desert ; and if he has been 
a man of influence and consideration, a large mound 



112 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

(tumulus) is generally raised over his grave, iii the 
construction of which all the male members of the 
tribe are expected to take part. The more honoured 
the person, the higher and larger the mound (yoska). 
The surviving relations look upon it with pride; on 
certain festivals, and on the anniversary of the death, 
food or other presents are placed upon it for the benefit 
of the poor; and no sooner does the nomad come m 
sight of it, however great the distance may be, than he 
mutters a short prayer for the repose of the dead. 

Men that fall in battle are neither undressed nor 
washed. The blood of a brave soldier being regarded 
as his greatest adornment, is consequently not removed. 

The funeral feast begins immediately after the burial 
with a simple repast, at which the iyis (bread baked in 
fat) is distributed among rich and poor, and must be 
eaten by everybody. The feast is repeated on the 
third, seventh, and fortieth day after the death took 
place, besides which the amiiversary is celebrated in 
like manner, — a duty which even the poorest would 
not omit to perform, for fear lest, by neglecting it, the 
departed might appear to them at night, and, exhort- 
mg the survivors, complam that they had forgotten 
to mvite those of this world who are to pray for the 
welfare of his soul. 

Among the nomads, the funeral feast occupies a 
more important part. Once every week, throughout 
the first year, a repast is prepared on the day of the 
death, and daily, as mentioned already in our " Travels 



JOY AND SORROW. 113 

among the Turkomans," the women sing the song of 
lamentation at the hour in which the member of the 
family breathed his last. With the latter, moreover, 
the memory of a dead person is held in the highest 
regard, and peculiar respect is paid to his grave for a 
long time after, if he has fallen m battle, or on some 
marauding expedition. The shaft of his lance is planted 
upon it, and decked with various-coloured pieces of 
stuiF, ram's horns, a horse's tail, or like mementos, — 
friends and members of the same tribe contributing, 
as a matter of course, every time they pass it. The 
" yoskas " are called by the name of those that repose 
beneath ; children play around, but, however playfully 
inclined, are careful not to climb upon them. It is 
even said, that horses go to visit the yoskas of their 
former masters, and are seen standing before them, 
with heads bent downward in mourning; and young 
warriors habitually look with veneration on these 
mounds, and draw from them the inspiration to their 
greatest deeds of valour. 

Whenever we haj)pened to meet one of these graves 
in our travels in the steppes of Central Asia, each 
member of our caravan was obliged to tear off a little 
piece of his clothes and fasten it to the shaft, or to a 
bench, or all joined in a hymn smig in his praise, 
Karavan bashi saying every time : " He who does not 
honour the dead will never receive honour from the 
living." 

8 



CHAPTER YIII. 

HOUSE, FOOD, AND DKESS. 

The house, or fixed dwelling, has never, up to the 
present day, gamed a firm footing among the nations 
in Central Asia, not even in those parts where regular 
settlements have existed for several hundred years. 
Part of the population build houses for themselves, 
but they are generally looked upon as gloomy places, 
producing feeluigs of melancholy, and the hght, airy 
tent is in all cases preferred. It is principally the 
QEzbeg people who build houses, an art they have 
learnt from the origmal Persian settlers, and, as they 
resemble hi many points the inhabitants of Iran, the 
architecture in Central Asia is in the early Iranic style, 
and at the same time very similar to the new Persian. 
The first thing before building a house^ is to level 
and prepare the ground by stampmg it down with a 
heavy pomider. Foundations are only made to large 
buildings. The common-sized houses are made with 
a mud flooring, two feet high, and upon this, after it 
has dried hard, the walls are raised with a layer of 
rushes or wood underneath, in order to keep them from 
the damp rising from the ground. The walls are either 



HOUSE, FOOD, AND DRESS. 115 

"tarn," i.e.^ of clay or stone, or "akcliub," i.e.^ of 
wooden laths, laid crossways, and the mterstices filled 
up with clay and unbaked tiles. The ceiling consists 
of planks, closely fitting together ; in the houses of the 
poor these are left bare, and in those of the rich they 
have a coating of plaster and lime. Small holes serve 
as windows ; they are open in summer, and in winter 
are pasted over with oiled paper. The roof, similar 
to those in Persia, is like a terrace, and serves as a 
sleeping place during the heat of the summer. Regular 
bricklayers are seldom met with. Every man is his 
own architect, convinced of possessing sufficient know- 
ledge to build for himself a house suitable to his wants ; 
and the plumb-line being still unknown, it is not to 
be wondered at that the walls are crooked and uneven, 
bulging either in or out, and soon become dilapidated. 
The interior arrangement of a house is as follows : 
you enter by a wide gate, which forms the chief en- 
trance, into a covered passage, called dalar. To the 
right of the gate are one or two rather large apart- 
ments (mihmankhane), which serve as reception- 
rooms for guests, and contain weapons as well as use- 
ful domestic utensils. Next to these are two small 
rooms, used as store-rooms. To the left are the stable 
and the shed for the carts and trucks, whilst a small 
door at the back of the dalar, opposite the entrance, 
leads to the inner apartments or harem. These are 
for the most part ay vans, that is, rooms which are open 
on one or two sides, and generally look out upon a 



116 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

garden. In towns they are used as favourite summer 
apartments, and it is really pleasant to live in them, 
especially during the night, with a peshekhane, a square 
tent made of gauze, like mosquito-nets, over one's 
bed, as a protection against catchiag cold, which is as 
dangerous in Central Asia as it is in Persia. In the 
country the dwellings are scattered. The farmstead 
(havli), which consists of several different parts, is 
always surrounded with a high wall for protection, 
and looks like a small fortress. The interior is very 
roomy; on one side are the buildings, always lower 
than the wall, on the other the tents, the fixed dwell- 
ings being set apart here also exclusively for animals 
and store-rooms. Sometimes the inner space is so 
large that a small kitchen-garden has found room within 
it. Outside, but near the walls, is a large reservoir, 
the edges of which are bordered with plantains, and 
afford a most agreeable resting-place. These trees 
flourish admirably in this part of Asia, where they 
are found of an astonishing height and breadth, and 
reach the great age of from 300 to 400 years. On hot 
summer days they afford the most refreshing shade, 
and for hours the (Ezbeg is seen sleeping beneath the 
spreading branches. Not only does the thick foHage 
protect him from the burning rays, but the breeze, 
which always blows under the plantains, drives away 
tormenting insects. 

The furnitures of a house are the same as in 
Persia, and consist of carpets, coverlets of felt, large 



HOUSE, FOOD, AND DRESS. 117 

chests, painted red, for keeping clothes, some cauldrons 
and other vessels for cooking, and holding water. 
Splendour or luxury are entirely wanting, and even 
the modern improvements in windows and doors, met 
with sometimes, come from Persia, from whence some 
clever and expert slave has introduced them into Cen- 
tral Asia. Nothing can find its way here from Europe, 
it has always to pass through the channel of Turkish 
and Persian civihzation. And everything travels its 
customary snail's pace; the Persian imitates European 
institutions second hand from the Turks, and the na- 
tions in Central Asia adopt nothmg but what reaches 
them through the medium of Persia. 

The food of the Tartars consists principally of meat. 
Bread, in many parts of the country, although not 
unknown, is yet a rare luxury. Mutton is the fa- 
vourite meat ; next to this goat's flesh, beef, and horse 
flesh ; camel's flesh is least valued. Occasionally, the 
horse is declared to be " mekruh " by the religious, 
and is not eaten, but in the country little notice is 
taken of it ; and the Torama^ horse flesh boiled soft and 
mixed up with onions, carrots and dumplings, is a 
very popular dish. It is worthy of remark, that the 
water first used in boiling the horse" flesh is poured 
away, as far too strong and heavy for even Tartar di- 
gestion, and that only the second infusion can be eaten 
as broth. In some parts of Central Asia sausages are 
made of the entrails, and considered a dainty dish; 
but I have nowhere found, that the delicate parts of 



118 SIvETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. 

this animal are held in such high favour among the 
Q^zbegs as is asserted throughout Persia. Camel's 
flesh is hard and tough ; it is .cut in small pieces, co- 
vered with paste, boiled, and then fried in lard. This 
dish, called Somsa, is not quite tasteless, but to our 
digestions like a weight of lead. 

The favourite national dish is the Palau^ also called 
ash, which, though related to the pilau of the Persians 
and the pilaf of the Turks, by far surpasses both these 
in savour. I have lived on it for a long time, and 
willingly impart to Europeans my knowledge of how 
it is prepared. A few spoonfuls of fat are melted (in 
Central Asia the fat of the tail is usually taken) in a 
vessel, and as soon as it is quite hot, the meat, cut up 
into small pieces, is thrown in. When these are in 
part fried, water is poured upon it to the depth of 
about three fingers, and it is left slowly boiling until 
the meat is soft; pepper and thinly- sliced carrots are 
then added, and on the top of these ingredients is put 
a layer of rice, after it has been freed from its muci- 
laginous parts. Some more water is added, and as 
soon as it has been absorbed by the rice the fire is 
lessened, and the pot, well-closed, is left over the red-hot 
coals, mitil the rice, meat and carrots, are thoroughly 
cooked in the steam. 

After half an hour the lid is opened, and the food 
served in such a way that the different layers lie sepa- 
rately in the dish, first the rice, floating in fat, then 
the carrots and the meat at the top, with which the 



HOUSE, FOOD, AND DEESS. 1 3 9 

meal is begun. This dish is excellent, and indispen- 
sable ahke on the royal table and in the hut of the 
poorest. From here it was introduced among the Af- 
ghans; by them to the Persians, who call it kabuli 
(kabul). The pilau, if I am not mistaken, has its 
origin in Central Asia, and spread from thence far 
and wide over Western Asia. 

Another national dish of the Tartars is Tchoreh^ a 
soup with small dumplings in it, which are filled with 
spice and minced meat. I say " a soup," and yet this 
dish alone suffices for a whole dinner, since it is par- 
taken of in such quantities that any other dish can be 
easily dispensed with. It is known among the Os- 
manlis by the name of tatar borek. Thirdly, Sheble^ a 
porridge of rice mixed up with meat and dried meat. 
Fourthly, bulamuk, a dish consisting simply of flour, 
water and fat. Fifthly, Mestava^ rice boiled in sour 
milk, a dish exclusively for the summer, as the former 
is for the whiter. Besides these dishes there are the 
Yarm.a^ corn bruised and boiled in milk ; Godje^ a kind 
of porridge, made of the molcussorghum ; and Mashava^ 
likewise a porridge of grits, eaten with fat, and some- 
times with oil. Heavy, strong and piquant dishes are 
generally preferred, few sweets are eaten, sugar and 
honey being unknown, and the many syrups (shires) 
prepared of grapes, melons, and other fruits, are rarely 
used in cooking. Of bread only enough for the day's 
consumption is baked, as is the custom everywhere in 
Asia. The dough is not made into thin cakes, as in 



120 SKETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. 

Persia, but into round thick loaves, such as are used 
in the neighbourhood of Erzerum, and are called lavash. 
There is also a sort of biscuit baked in fat, eaten when 
travelling. 

Among the settled nations of Central Asia, tea is 
the favourite druilv, and among the nomads, especially 
the Kirghis tribe, it is the Kumis. In summer they 
drink green tea, which thins the blood and promotes 
digestion ; but in winter a black tea (brick tea) of a 
very harsh taste and an extraordinary' stimulant ; its 
effects are for a long time unbearable, and must be 
very dangerous. Cooling drmks are the Air an, sour 
milk mixed with water, and various decoctions made 
of di"ied fruit. Coffee is enth'ely unknown; even m 
Persia it is only met "svith ui the southern province of 
Pars, and m Irak among the higher classes. Wme 
and brandy are sometimes sold secretly in the capitals, 
by Jews who manufacture both, but the number of 
consumers is very small. The Islamitic laws are severe 
on this pomt, and forbid, under pain of death, the use 
of spirituous liquors, but they do not prevent the ^ice 
of intoxication. Those who wish for stimulants use 
opium, teriak, or other narcotic poisons, and thus, in 
order to obviate a small evil, the door is opened to a 
much larger one, the gratification of which costs health 
and life. 

The wretched poverty among the hiliabitants of 
Central Asia is shown in nothmo- more stronoiy than 
in their dress, and the eye is with difficulty accustomed 



HOUSE, FOOD, AND DRESS. 121 

to the simple cotton stuff, or silks of glaring colours, 
in which every one is clothed, man and woman, young 
and old. Cloth or other European manufactures are 
only exhibited on extraordinary festive occasions, and 
are worn by wealthy or great dignitaries, as a ne plus 
ultra of luxury. At any other time, whether winter 
or summer, a garment, the so-called Aladja, is worn, 
and the only difference made in the various seasons is, 
that they put in a thicker lining, of either linen, wool, 
or fur. The cut of it is, perhaps, the most primitive 
among all the settled nations of Asia. No one has any 
idea of dressing tastefully and yet conveniently, or of 
setting off their figure to advantage, the only object is 
to cover or rather envelope it, and the Persian is per- 
fectly right when he satirically says of his rude neigh- 
bours, that the whole nation moves about wrapt up in 
bed clothes. The Tchapan (upper coat) is the chief 
article of a man's wardrobe ; it is not unlike our Euro- 
pean dressing gowns, and cut out in Khiva so as to fit 
the body pretty well ; in Bokhara it is ah'eady so large 
that two people can envelop themselves in it, and in 
Khokand it is widest of all. It is a highly ludicrous 
sio'ht to see a man trot alono; iii this smock-frock-like 
garment, full of folds, and puffing out at every part, 
and though I can well understand the many folds 
round the chest, formmg as they do a receptacle for a 
whole set of cooking utensils, and all the necessaries 
for travelling, and food to last at least for two days, 
yet it will always be a mystery to me why the sleeves 



122 SKETCHES OE CENTKAL ASIA. 

are twice as long as tlie arms, and what is the advan- 
tage of tucking them up and makmg an enorm.ous roll 
or puif on the top of the arm. Under the tchapan is 
worn in summer a Yektey (a thin under dress), and 
under this the shirt, which reaches down to the ankles, 
and is distinguished from other shirts, worn in Asia, 
by being open on the left shoulder instead of in front, 
very much like a sack. At night the Turkestans have 
the strange habit, before going to sleep, of drawing 
their arms out of their shirt sleeves, and doublmg 
themselves up. In winter an extra garment, Tchekmen^ 
of ample dimensions and made of coarse stuif, is added 
to this costume. In some parts of the country, es- 
pecially in Khiva, where the cold is greater, thickly- 
wadded, clumsy trousers are worn. As a covering for 
the head they wear in Khiva the telpek, a broad, coni- 
cal-shaped hat of fur, which is very heavy ; throughout 
Bokhara the turban is worn. It has a very picturesque 
appearance, with its long loops hanging down on the 
left side, and the trim natty way in which it is put on. 
In Khokand a small Hght cap used to be worn until 
twenty years ago, not unhke our clergyman's scapula 
(skull cap,) but since then it has yielded to Bokha- 
riot civilisation, and has been supplanted by the tur- 
ban. As to boots, those made in Bokhara and Kho- 
kand are the best. The leather is good, the shape 
rather handsome, but for the ludicrously long and thin 
heel, the end of which is scarcely broader than a nail's 
head. People of rank wear a kind of stocking made 



HOUSE, FOOD, AiSTD DRESS. 123 

of morocco leather (mest), and over these, shoes, of 
which the best are made m Samarkand. 

With respect to the dress of the women, it seems as 
if they were still more desirous than the men to avoid 
any approach to ostentation, luxury or smartness. 
When in undress, the women wear in summer a long 
shirt, reaching down to the ankles, the hind part of 
which is made of coarse hnen, and the front mostly of 
a hght coloured strong Russian print. The trousers 
are in like maimer made of linen down to the knee, 
and the lower part, which fits close to the ankle, is 
made of print, or any other coloured stuff. The 
women . wear in whiter, over the shirt, one or two 
thickly-wadded jackets, fastened round the loins with 
a shawl. When abroad they put over all this a long 
garment, not unlike a man's coat, in which the woman 
muffles herself, holding it tightly together with both 
hands across her chest. The feet are covered with 
clumsy boots. It is a sorry sight to see a town woman 
of Central Asia walk about m this wretched costume, 
with her whole attention engrossed by the effort not 
to let the over-coat escape from her hands, since she 
would be regarded as an impudent woman indeed, if 
she allowed her under garments to be seen, and al- 
though the boldest stare cannot penetrate the coarse 
veil of horse-hair, yet she has to be for ever on the 
watch not to attract the looks of the passers by. 

In the country, women are allowed to move with 
less restraint. Married women are seldom veiled. 



124 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

young girls never. The overcoat is shorter, and is 
merely thrown across the shoulder, and the broad 
shawl girded round the waist, with long ends fluttering 
to the breeze, gives a certain picturesqueness to their 
appearance. This indulgence, however, is only en- 
joyed in Khiva and Khokand ; in Bokhara, even in the 
country, the tyrannical laws of Islamitic civilisation 
are executed with great severity, and it is rare to meet 
with an exception. 

Among the men, various objects of ornament are 
seen, those which hang from the Koshbag, such as good 
knives with silver or other ornamented handles, gold- 
embroidered bags for tea, pepper and salt; further, 
rings for the fingers, tesbih (rosaries,) seals sometimes, 
but rarely, bracelets, gold and silver sheaths for amu- 
lets and watches, which latter are especial articles of 
luxury, and only to be found among the great. The 
objects of ornament among wornen I have already 
mentioned when speaking of the customs at weddings. 
It is useless to look for comfort or luxury either in the 
dwellings, food, or clothing of the natives of Central 
Asia, every thing here bears the impress of very 
ancient manners and customs, and every one conforms 
to them willingly, not mshing for anything better. 
The government, supported by the MoUahs, labours to 
keep up this status quo of things, by declaring all 
foreign productions contraband, and endeavouring to 
supplant them in the market, for fear the inhabitants 
of Turkestan might become aware of their poverty. 



HOUSE, FOOD, AND DRESS. 125 

and attribute it, not to the natural, but to the social 
circumstances of their country. And yet such an en- 
deavour is fruitless, railroads and steam vessels bring 
their powerful veto, even in these rude countries, to 
bear upon a whole nation's backwardness. The ships 
which plough the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea, the 
Caspian Sea, the Lake of Aral, the Volga, and, at the 
present time, the Yaxartes likewise, have considerably 
lessened the distance between Central Asia and the 
west of Europe. The locomotives, which on the south 
run as far as Lahore, on the north to Nishnei- Novgorod, 
and astonish and perplex the eastern nations, are still, 
it is true, far from the inland waters of the Oxus and 
Yaxartes; yet, nevertheless, they exercise a consider- 
able influence upon the communication of these coun- 
tries. The CEzbeg trader need only go as far as Oren- 
burg on the one, and Peshawur on the other side, and 
he has St. Petersburg, Bombay, and the whole of 
Europe before him. Inaccessible as Central Asia stiU 
is to all scientific, as well as commercial travellers, 
yet within the last twenty-five years an essential ma- 
terial advancement is apparent. We need only look 
over the custom-house list of the Enghsh and Eussian 
frontier towns, and we should be surprised at the enor- 
mous increase of articles imported from Europe. From 
1840 to 1850 goods were transported across the Rus- 
sian frontier of nearly a milHon pounds sterling in 
value, and in the year 1860 they amounted already to 
the value of two millions. Cotton and silk stuffs have 



126 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

been more largely imported than any other goods, and 
in spite of the detestation and horror felt towards the 
producer, the productions of the west grow more and 
more in request, and are well paid for. Cottons, 
handkerchiefs and cambrics, as is well known, are the 
great forerunners of civilisation, the mute apostles of 
western culture, who spread blessings in their path, 
even though European arms and military tactics occa- 
sionally accompany their footsteps. And, however 
much the condition of half savage nations may be ex- 
tolled for its happiness by foolish and weak-brained 
enthusiasts, yet a practical observer must feel con- 
vinced that our civilisation is preferable, and that it is 
a sacred duty on our part to transplant it to every 
chme and country. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FROM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 

The young Mollah from Kungrat, who had joined our 
caravan in order to reach Samarkand, was planning to 
go and take leave of his native town and kindred whilst 
we were staying at Khiva ; and great was his joy when 
he learned that I was desirous of accompanymg him 
thither, partly from a wish to make a beggmg tour 
and collect all I could, and partly for the sake of escap- 
ing the uncomfortable crowding in hot, sultry Khiva. 
In his delight he promised me mountains of gold, de- 
scribing everything in the most glowing colours, to 
sustain me in my resolve. I needed, however, no 
urgmg, too glad to meet with such an opportmiity; 
and two days after I was actually on my way to Y engi 
Urgendj, from whence I hoped to reach the Oxus, 
where a half-laden vessel was ready to take us on board 
for a moderate fare. 

The journey from Khiva to Kmigrat is chiefly made 
by water in the summer, and down the river at high 
water it never lasts longer than five days; that is, 
during the very heat of summer, when the river has 
reached its greatest height, owing to the melting of 



128 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

the snow on the Hindukush and the tops of the Bedakh- 
shan mountains. In the autumn and spring, at low 
water, the voyage lasts longer, and m winter it is 
entirely interrupted, the Oxus being in many parts, 
although not wholly, covered with ice. 

The traveller can take ship, if so inclined, from the 
very walls of Khiva, that is, on the canal Hazreti 
Pehlivan, but not without making a great detour^ since 
its mouth is to the south, near Hezaresp, instead of 
being to the north. The same objection applies to the 
second canal, Gazavat, which is at a considerable dis- 
tance ft-om the town, and flows rather eastward than 
northward. For this reason the traveller prefers to 
go to Yengi Urgendj, the first manufacturing and 
commercial city in the Khanat, and then on to Ak- 
hun Baba, the tomb of a saint, with a few scattered 
havhs (farmsteads) near it, which is situated on the 
banks of the Oxus, and is the first stage on the road. 
The distance is about eighteen English miles, in a 
well cultivated and tolerably populous district, the 
road leading through fields, gardens and meadows. 
Here are found the finest mulberry trees in the great- 
est abundance, and consequently the cultivation of 
silk is extremely flourishing; in fact, this part of the 
country justly deserves to be caUed one of the most 
beautiful in the whole Khanat. 

The heat was so fierce and intolerable on the banks 
of the Oxus, that I could not help expressing some 
uneasiness to the boatmen, but they comforted me b}^ 



FROM KHIVA TO KUNGEAT AWD BACK. 129 

saying, that do^vii stream this evil would be remedied, 
byjDutting up a Peshekhane (mosauito net), which would 
not be in their way, the boat being steered only at 
either end. The mosquito net was at once put up ; 
it had the shape of a canopy, and was to protect us in 
the day time from the sun, at night from the danger- 
ous mosquitoes; and the necessary fatiha (blessings) 
on starting having been pronounced, we pushed off in 
company of four boatmen and two other passengers. 

The voyage was at first very monotonous. The two 
mer, one at the upper end and one at the lower end 
of the boat, kept steering it to those parts of the river 
where the water was yellowish and turbid, the current 
being here the strongest, as they explained to us. The 
rudders consisted of long poles, flattened at the end, 
and the two steersmen generally remained seated down 
at their work, unless special care and attention were 
required. They were relieved about every two hours, 
when, less fatigued by their labour than scorched by 
the sun, they would join us in our sheltered retreat, 
stretch themselves out at full length, to our great an- 
noyance, and soon be heard snoring in chorus, until 
they had to return to their task. Of our two fellow- 
travellers, happily only one was very loquacious; and 
whenever my Tartar friend explained to me this or 
that point of interest, he would interrupt him with his 
copious emendations, and thus satisfy my curiosity by 
a full and detailed commentary. 

The banks of the Oxus present few features espe- 

9 



130 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. 

cially worthy of interest, although far more than Bou- 
tenieiF notices in his travels, who, in his mission in 
1858, took the same route from Kungrat to Yengi 
Urgendj, up stream. On the right bank, opposite 
the place where we embarked, is seen the great ruin, 
Shahbaz Yeli (the sacred hero), which is said to have 
been a strong fortress in ancient times, and which was 
destroyed by the Kalmucks. In the history of Khiva 
these people are regarded as the great destroyers of 
the Khanat; and although it is true that at the time 
of their invasion under Djengiz, the then flourishing 
Kharezm suffered terribly at their hands, yet it is an 
exaggeration to assert, as tradition does, that all the 
ruins are the sole work of thefr lust for devastation. 
Farther on I met with another extensive ruin with the 
remains of stone buildings, called Gaur Kaleszi (the 
fortress of the Gaurs). Under the term "Gaur," I 
first understood the Gebers or fire-worshippers, but 
soon I learned to my great astonishment, that by this 
name are designated, throughout Central Asia, the 
Armenians or rather the Nestorians, who possessed 
here large colonies, extending from the Sea of Aral 
far into China, in pre-Islamitic times down to the de- 
cline of the Mongol dominion. 

On the right bank extends for more than three 
leagues, from the above-mentioned rums down to the 
water's edge, a- somewhat dense forest (togay), called 
Khitabegi. The trees are not particularly high, but 
the sun is nevertheless unable to penetrate and dry 



I 



FROM KHIVA TO KUNGEAT AND BACK. 131 

up the marshes fed by the Oxus. Only in very few 
places is the forest inhabited, and that by the Kara- 
kaljDak tribe, who rear cattle. The left bank is the 
really inhabited part ; here the chain of Havlis is scarcely 
interrupted, and here and there villages of some 
size are seen lying close to the water, such as the 
CEzhe.Q- viUao;e Tashkale, which is situated on a hisrh 
bank, and the smaller village of Vezir, near which the 
canal Kilidjbay discharges, or rather forms a basin, 
previous to losing itself beyond Yilali in the sand. 

To make tea, prepare palau, and either hsten to or 
tell sacred legends, was the alternate occupation of the 
day. Sometimes it haj)pened that all my companions, 
the steersmen alone excepted, fell fast asleep, produc- 
ing a pause, which was to me a most pleasant change ; 
and as I fixed my eyes upon the yellow, turbid waters 
of the ancient Oxus, my imagination loved to revert 
to the clear mirror of many a European river, whose 
waters are ploughed by hundreds of ships, and whose 
verdant, smiling banks, are full of life and activity. 
What a gigantic contrast! 

The Oxus is the typical representative of the country 
it traverses, — wild and unruly in its course, like the 
temperament of the Central Asiatics. Its shallows are 
as little marked as the good and bad qualities in the 
Turkoman ; daily it makes for itself new channels si- 
milar to the nomad, whose restless spirit, wearied of 
staying long m one spot, is ever craving for novelty 
and chan2;e. 



\r>'2 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

Early the second day we passed the town of Gorlen 
at a short distance from the shore. The proper land- 
ing place is a village near, called Ishinidji, and oppo- 
site to it on the right bank is situated the fort Rehini- 
berdi Beg, which I mention merely because here begins 
the mountain chain of Oveis Karayne, extendmg from 
south-east to north.* At iirst sight it bears much 
resemblance, as well in height as in its formation, to 
the Great Balkan in the desert, between Khiva and 
Astrabad : but on a nearer approach its larger circum- 
ference soon becomes apparent, and the luxuriant vege- 
tation and the woods with which several of its heights 
are clothed, present a scene of agreeable surprise. On 
one of them is said to be the tomb of Oveis Karapie. 
a celebrated place of pilgrimage in Khiva, and in the 
distance we discovered seA^eml buildings, which Rehim- 
berdi Beg had erected for the convenience of the devo- 
tees. Further on is the Munadjat daghi (mount of 
devotion), which is pointed out as the resting place of 
a holy lady, called Amberene (Mother Ambra). Holy 
women are not often met with in Sunnitic Islamism; 
tliere are. however, a few of them in Central Asia, 
which may be taken as a fresh proof that Islamism 



* Oreii? KaraTiio is the name of a faithful follower of Mohammed, who out 
of love to the Prophet had all his teeth knocked out, the latter hariiiE; lost two 
of his front teeth in jhe battle at Ohud, thi-ough a blow from the enemy's 
weapon. After Mohammed's death lie eveu intended to found an Order, with 
this self-mutilation as a condition of membership ; but his efforts proved nn- 
sucoessfvd. The assertion, that he came to Khiva and died there, belongs rather 
to the region of fiction. 



FROM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 133 

does not treat the fair sex with such unnatural harsh- 
ness as people in Europe are apt to imagine. As to 
my lady Amberene, tradition tells us that, a Zuleikha 
in beauty, a Fatima in virtue, she was hated and after- 
wards expelled by her husband, solely because she pro- 
fessed the Mohammedan religion, of which he was an 
arch-enemy. Driven from her princely abode m Ur- 
gendj, she was obhged to take refuge in this wild 
spot, and would have died of starvation but for a hind 
which appeared daily at the entrance of her cave, wait- 
ing to be milked, and then again disappeared. Who, 
in hearing this tale, is not reminded of the story of 
Genoveva ? The Parisians in those days were not better 
than the Q^^zbegs of to-day ; nor can we fail to be struck 
mth the identity that exists in fables of social and re- 
ligious hfe, among nations living widely separated from 
each other. 

After leaving Gorlen we went on for about four 
hours down stream, and came to Yengi yap, an insigni- 
ficant hamlet, surrounded by earth walls, and about 
one hour and a half distant from the river. Two hours 
later we reached the district of Khitayi, which begins 
where the Yumalak, a conical hill, rises close to the 
left bank. On the right the Oveis mountains ap- 
proach nearer and nearer to the Oxus, and soon we 
passed the prominent peak Yamj)uk, crowned with the 
rums of an old castle. Opposite Yumalak the moun- 
tam chain. Sheikh Djeli, which runs from east to 
west, forms a very narrow channel (here called kis- 



134 SKETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. 

nak), much narrower than the Iron Gates on the 
Danube, and often dangerous to navigation from the 
force and rapidity of the current. The waters here 
roar, as if the Oxus, that unruly son of the desert, 
were angry at being so imprisoned between the rocks. 
The narrowest part is, however, very short; on the 
left bank the mountains terminate abruptly, while on 
the right bank the high lands gradually slope, and 
after having passed Tama, which lies on the left, the 
country is everywhere flat. With the mountains dis- 
appeared every romantic feature along the banks of 
the Oxus. After a voyage of two days our eyes and 
imagination were fully satisfied, and although the 
morning and evening hours had their charms, yet the 
heat became intolerable in the day-time, and the mos- 
quitoes and flies at night — insects, in comparison with 
which the Golumbacz on the Lower Danube are harm- 
less and insignificant as butterflies. As soon as the 
sun began to set, every one crept carefully under the 
mosquito-net, made, of course, of hnen, the air under 
which had become so thoroughly poisoned by my 
fellow-travellers, that I felt keenly not to be able to 
exchange it for the purer air outside. Towards even- 
uig we reached the district of Mangit, which has a 
town of the same name, about two hours' distance 
from the river, but not Adsible from the boat on 
account of a small wood which intervenes. Here we 
remained for some tmie moored along the bank, and 
having comfortably cooked our dinner in the open air, 



PROM KHIVA TO KUJSfORAT AND BACK. 135 

instead of ou the narrow hearth in the boat, we 
contiaued our voyage. We reached Basuyap, after 
another hour's journey, at night, much to the regret 
of my friend, who had been anxious to pay a visit 
with me to a very celebrated Nogdi Ishan, who re- 
sided there, m order to ask his advice and blessing 
on the journey he had undertaken. These Nogdi^ 
who fled hither to escape the Russian authorities or 
the conscription, are m Central Asia regarded as 
martyrs to freedom and Islamism, and revered as 
such; but I have frequently met among them the 
most consummate rascals, and thought that they had 
probably run away from a fully merited chastisement. 

Early in the morning we passed Kiptchak, which is 
the second stage on the journey, and lies on both 
sides of the Oxus. At this place a rock rises from 
the water, which, extending across the river, narrows 
the channel by more than half its ividth, and renders 
the navigation so extremely dangerous, that it is never 
attempted, except at broad dayhght. At low water 
some of the points are visible, and it is no uncommon 
thing to see children, a foot deep in water, clambering 
upon them. 

Kiptchak itself is a place of considerable importance, 
uihabited by an (Ezbeg tribe of the same name, and 
possesses several mosques and colleges. Of the latter, 
the college situated on the right bank of the river was 
founded by Khodja Niaz, and is deservedly celebrated 



136 'SItETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

for its rich endowments. Not far from this building, 
which stands separately, is seen the ruin Tchilpik, on 
a hill rising close to the water. Tradition asserts 
that in ancient times it was a strong castle, and the 
residence of a Prmcess, who, having fallen in love 
with one of her father's slaves, and dreading the anger 
of her offended parent, fled hither for refuge with her 
lover. In order to obtam water, they were obliged 
to pierce the hill doAvnwards to the river, and the 
subterranean passage exists at the present day. 

From Kiptshak up the stream beghis the forest 
already mentioned, which extends with few interrup- 
tions along the right bank of the river to some distance 
beyond Kungrat. 1 could not see from the boat hoAV 
far its breadth stretched eastward, but 1 have been 
assured that it is from eight to ten hours' journey. 
Its approach from the river is intercepted by bogs 
and morasses, which render it only in a few places 
accessible. In the less thickly-wooded parts graze 
numberless herds of cattle, the property of the Kara- 
kalpaks, who find abundance of game in the forest, 
but sometimes suffer greatly from the numerous wild 
beasts, especially panthers, tigers, and lions, which 
infest that district. From here to Gorlen the stream 
has so many shallows, that we were incessantly strik- 
ing aground. The left bank rises to an elevated 
plateau, which extends far in a north-westerly direc- 
tion, and is called Yilanku^ (the field of serpents) by 
the natives. On the western frontier of the desert it 



FROM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 137 

forms a declivity as steep as the Kaflankir, or the 
whole table-land of Ustyurt. The population of this 
region consists of Jomut- Turkomans and Tchaudors; 
the former lead a nomadic life near the river, and in 
the country round Porsu and Yilali ; the latter inhabit 
the skirts of the desert and the several oases of the 
Ustyurt. Both tribes, as may well be imagmed, 
live in constant feud with each other, — a condition as 
much to their disadvantage, as it is to the advantage 
of the OEzbegs, the immediate neighbourhood of a 
strong and united nomad people proving always most 
dangerous to the dwellers in settled habitations. 

On the evening of the third day we stopped at 
Khodja Hi,* a town about two hours' distance from 
the river. Most of the inhabitants derive their origin 
from Khodja, and they are not a little proud of com- 
parmg theh^ ancestry with that of the other Qi^zbegs. 
The whole district is thickly populated, and the left 
bank forms as far as Noksf an uninterrupted cham of 
wood and cultivated land. Here is one of the most 
dangerous places in the Oxus, a waterfall, which at 
the time of our voyage rushed down from the height 
of three feet with the swiftness of an arrow and with 

* Khodja Hi. — The people of the Khodja, or descendants of the prophets, 
a considerable number of whom inhabit this part of the country. Thej have 
as much a purely Q^zbeg physiognomy, as the numerous Seids in Persia bear 
the stamp of an Iranic origin. The former, however, enjoy considerably more 
privileges. 

t In the map to my " Travels in Central Asia," N5ks has by mistake been 
confounded with Khodja Hi; the former also is full an hour farther from 
Kungrat than is there stated. 



138 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

a tremendous noise, which is heard at the distance of 
more than a league. The natives call it Kazankitken, 
i.e.^ the spot where the cauldrons went to the bottom, 
since a vessel laden with these utensils is said to have 
been lost here. Full fifteen minutes before reaching 
the waterfall the boats are brought close to the shore, 
and carefully towed along. From here down the 
stream the river has formed by inundations very con- 
siderable lakes, which communicate with one another 
by small natural canals, which seldom dry up entirely. 
The largest are : Kuyruklu Kol and Sari Tchongul. 
The former is said to extend for several days' journey 
far towards the north-east; the latter is smaller in 
circumference, but much deeper. 

We passed Noks on the fourth day. Even on the 
left bank we saw cultivation gradually decreasiug as 
we advanced ; the river on both sides is bordered with 
forests, and forms half-way to Kungrat a broad and 
rather deep canal, called Ogiizkitken, which takes a 
south-westerly direction and falls into the lake Shor- 
katchi. Efforts have been made to cut off the latter 
from the large stream by raising dykes, but in vain, 
and the immense extent of water renders the naviga- 
tion here exceedingly troublesome. The forest ter- 
minates at the tomb of a saint, called Afakkhodja, 
and the district of Kungrat begins, covered, as far as 
the eye can reach, with gardens, fields and " havlis." 
The town itself did not become visible until the even- 
ing of the fifth day, after we had passed the run of a 



FROM KHIVA TO KUNGliAT AND BACK. 139 

fortress built by the rebel Torebeg at the time of 
Mehemmed Emin, and a whirlpool near it. 

Our stay in this most northerly town of the Khanat 
of Khiva was of very short duration, since my young 
companion, having lost his parents a year before, was 
not long in taking leave of the relative who dwelt 
here, and himself urged a speedy return. The town 
has a far more miserable appearance than those in the 
south, and is chiefly known for its large fairs, to which 
the nomads of the neighbourhood resort, offering for 
sale large quantities of cattle, butter, carpets of felt, 
camels' hair and wool. A brisk trade is also carried 
on in fish, especially dried fish, which are brought 
from the sea of Aral, and sent afterwards from here 
all over the Khanat. I must mention as a very re- 
markable fact, that I met here with two Russians, 
who had turned Mahometans, and lived in the full 
enjoyment of a comfortable dwelling-house, a flourish- 
ing farmstead, and a numerous family. They were 
prisoners of the Perowsky Army, and received their 
liberty from Mehemmed Emin Khan, under the con- 
dition that they would adopt Islamism. One of them 
has been presented with a Persian slave : the dark- 
brown daughter of Iran and the fair-haired son of the 
north five very happily together, and although the 
latter has several times had the opportunity of return- 
ing to his native home, he has not been able to form 
the resolution of quittting his adopted fatherland on 
the banks of the Oxus. 



140 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

In conclusion, I will state the scanty information 
I gathered here about the further course of the Oxus 
from Kungrat to its embouchure in the Sea of Aral. 
At two hours' distance from this town, going down 
stream, the river divides into two great arms, which 
are little distinguished from each other. The right 
one, which keeps the name of Amu Derya, reaches the 
lake first, but in consequence of its many ramifications 
it is too shallow, and at low water extremely difS.cult 
to navigate. The left arm, which bears the name of 
Tarlik (the strait)* is narrow, but of a certain depth 
throughout, and is little used, simply on account of 
the great circuit it makes on its way to the lake. 
The traffic on the Lower Oxus is inconsiderable, and 
not to be compared with that which enlivens the river 
between Tchihardjuy and Kungrat, where it forms the 
principal commercial highway between Bokhara and 
Khiva. In autumn it is chiefly fishing which takes 
the ffizbegs to the sea, and the trade m dried sea-fish 
is m all three Khanats an important one. It has 

* Not Taldyk, as Admiral Butakoff called it in his treatise, read on the 
11th of March, 1867, before the Greographical Society in London, nor can I 
agree with him about the two extreme arms of the Delta, of which he calls the 
eastern Yenghi, and the western Laudan. It is possible that it may have been 
so formerly, in consequence of the frequent changes of the water-course ; but 
at present this is no longer the case I learned from the most authentic source, 
that the name of Laudan is given only to the dry bed of the Oxus, which, 
beginning at Kiptchak, runs in a westerly direction past Kohne Urgendj^ 
Butakoff designates the middle branch by the name of Ulkun, and here I must 
remark, that this word meaning " great," is always added to the name of the 
chief stream. Ulkun, more correctly Ulken, is consequently identical with my 
Amu Derya. 



FROM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 141 

become an almost indispensable article to the inhabit- 
ants of the steppes, from their being too parsimonious 
to feed on meat, in spite of their wealth in cattle, and 
therefore preferring, as they do, dried fish as its sub- 
stitute. In the spruig, on the other hand, it is the 
wild geese, large numbers of which are found around 
the several mouths of the river, which tempt all those 
who are fond of shooting to the shores of the Sea of 
Aral. At this season of the year also most pilgrim- 
ages take place, undertaken by pious OEzbegs to the 
tomb of Tokmak Baba, which is situated upon an 
island of the same name, near these outlets. This 
saint is revered as the patron of fishermen, and rests 
under a small mausoleum, in the inner cell of which 
have been carefully preserved through remote ages 
his clothes and cooking utensils, among which a caul- 
dron is an object of peculiar veneration. I was told, 
that even the Russians very rarely land on this island, 
although access to it has been greatly facilitated by 
steam-vessels, and that in case they do visit it, they 
never touch these relics, — as if moved by involuntary 
feelings of respect. 

In surveying the whole course of this remarkable 
river, from its source on the Ser-i-kul (beginnmg of 
the sea) down to its embouchure, we perceive firstly, 
that it is not, as Burnes asserts, navigable throughout 
its entire length, but on the contrary, that only from 
Kerki, or rather from Tchihardjuy down stream can 
it be used for large and small craft. Upwards from 



142 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

these towns we meet nothing but rafts, carrying fuel 
and timber, in which the slopes of the Bedakhshan 
mountains abound, and supplying the scantily wooded 
plains, but seldom used by families emigrating to the 
Lower Oxus. Between Hezaresp and Eltchig, a part 
of the river which forms one stage on the way to 
Bokhara, larger boats already are used from and to 
Khiva, which carry goods and victuals ; but the greatest 
traffic is undoubtedly on that part of the river, which 
flows in the Khanat of Khiva, where the river, with 
its many towns along its banks, affords a favourite 
and cheap means, up as well as down stream, for the 
transport of large freight, and is used among the 
poorer classes even for personal mter- communication. 
Secondly, it ajDpears to me (I abstain from making 
any assertion, not possessing sufficient knowledge on 
the subject), that the Oxus has scarcely the capabih- 
ties of becoming the powerful artery for traffic and 
communication in Central Asia, which politicians, 
when speaking of the future of Turkestan, confidently 
expect. It never can become of the same importance 
as the Yaxartes, whose waters at this very moment 
are ploughed by Russian steamers, a conjecture suf- 
ficiently warranted by the fact, that the Russians 
entered Turkestan with their flotilla of the Sea of 
Aral, not by the Oxus, but by the Yaxartes, a river 
far less favourable to their plans of occupation. It 
has been urged, that the uninhabited shores of this 
last-named river are of greater importance to the 



FEOM KHIVA TO KUNGEAT AND BACK. 143 

Court of St. Petersburg ; but this is a worthless argu- 
ment, and rests solely on our want of geographical 
knowledge with respect to Central Asia. 

With steamers on the Oxus, the Russians would 
not only have been able to keep the Khanat of Khiva 
in check, to garrison the fortress of Kungrat, Kipt- 
shak and Hezaresp, but they would have had the 
power of introducing with the greatest ease a strong 
corps cParmee by Karakul into Bokhara, and thus into 
the very heart of Central Asia, had not the extra- 
ordinary physical difficulties of this route rendered 
such a scheme impracticable. Moreover, of this the 
Russians themselves became sufficiently convinced, 
when making their very first appearance in Central 
Asia. Apart from the waterfall at Khodja Hi, the 
dangerous cliffs near Kiptchak and the Kisnak near 
Yampuk, the Oxus offers perhaps the greatest dif- 
ficulties to navigation in its numerous sandbanks, 
which in some parts extend for many miles, and at 
the same time undergo such rapid changes in con- 
sequence of the large quantity of sand the stream 
carries along with it, that it is quite impossible to 
take observations, and even the most experienced 
steersman can do no more than guess the navigable 
channel by the colour, but can never indicate it with 
confidence or certamty. Thirdly, to regulate this 
stream, which at the beginning of the spring, and 
during the latter part of the autumn, is almost two- 
thirds smaller than in summer, would be of the greatest 



144 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

disadvantage to the inhabitants, since its numerous 
arms and canals not only are necessary for the cultiva- 
tion of their fields, but supply \vith drinking water 
even the most distant parts of the country, to say 
nothiag of the rapid current rendering such an under- 
taking extremely difficult. If the Khan of Khiva 
wanted to declare war against some rebellious part of 
his country, he would first of all cut ofi" the canals and 
aqueducts, a stroke of policy which would be felt most 
severely ; and a government, which were to shut the 
sluices in order to increase the water ui the bed of the 
Oxus, would commit an act equivalent to a declaration 
of hostilities against the whole country at once. 

Not only has the Oxus extremely rapid currents, 
but it continually deviates from its original channel. 
These deviations in the lower part of the river begin 
after its bend near Hezaresp, and are far more 
numerous than is generally supposed. Upon enquir- 
ing of the inhabitants about them, they reckoned up 
more than eight on each side, and although they may 
have included in this estimate former canals, never- 
theless its irregularity must be admitted. Taking 
this view, there is very little difficulty m agreeing 
with Sir Henry Rawlinson, who founded his assertion 
on a very valuable Persian manuscript, that m former 
times the Sea of Aral had no existence whatever. 

The journey from Kungrat to Khiva is generally 
made by land, since it requires from eighteen to twenty 
days up stream. The transport of freight is made b}^ 



FROM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 145 

"water. There are three roads by land ; 1, by Kohne 
Urgends, which is called the summer route, and avoids 
the lakes, outlets and arms of the Oxus, which at that 
season of the year are full to overflowing. This route 
is the longest, 56 farsakh* in length; 2, by Khodja 
Hi, a distance of 40 farsakh, which the traveller prefers 
in the winter, all the waters being frozen; and 3, the 
road on the right bank of the Oxus by Shurakhan, 
which makes several detours^ and runs through a great 
many sand-steppes. 

Our return journey had to be made with all possible 
speed, but nevertheless we were obliged to take the 
long road by Kohne Urgendj. We had the good 
fortune to join a party of travellers, of whom some 
were going to Kohne Urgendj, others to Khiva. All 
were capitally mounted, and even the horses placed at 
our disposal "lillah" (out of pious benevolence) were 
young, vigorous animals, and, as we carried no luggage 
except a few biscuits with a small store of provisions 
for our journey, we rode briskly along in spite of the 
heat, which even in the early morning made itself 
felt. Leaving the gate of the town behind us, we 
rode across the well- cultivated district of Kungrat, 
keepmg always a north-westerly direction, and then 
crossing a barren tract of country, came to a large 
stagnant water, called Atyolu^ which is marked out as 
the first stage, and is 7 farsakh long. A bridge leads 
over a narrow part of it, and here the road diverges 

* Farsakh {i.e., iTapa(Tayyy)s), a Persian league, about 18,000 feet in length. 

10 



146 SKETCHES or CEXTEAL ASIA. 

in two parts, the one of which skirts a low mountain, 
called Kazak Orge, and, crossing the great plateau 
of Ustyurt, goes to Orenburg; the other leads to 
Kohne Urgendj. We took the latter route, and 
passing through forests and sandy tracts, now* and 
then came in sight of some ruin on either side of the 
road, of which two were pointed out as being worthy 
of notice; — Karagombez (black dome), near which a 
salt is found as clear and white as ciystal, and the 
finest in the Khanat, and Barsakilmez (he who 
goes does not return), a dangerous spot, inhabited 
even at the present day by evU spirits, and where many, 
who went there from curiosity, have lost their hves. 

After a long ride of five hours we reached the 
second station, called Kahilbeg HavIL It is an isolated 
:fermstead, but, m accordance with an old custom of 
the proprietors, we were received and treated with 
great -hospitahty, and remembering that we had the 
prospect of a long ride of eight hours from here to the 
next stage, Kiziltchagalan^ our kind host had not for- 
gotten to provide us at breakfast with meat and bread. 
It was still dark when we started. Our companions 
were examiniug their weapons with the utmost care, 
which made me fear that we might j>erhaps have to 
pass some hostile tribe of the Turkomans; but they 
removed my uneasiness on this point, cautionmg me 
at the same time that we should have to travel the 
whole day long in a thick forest, in which there were 
many lions, panthers and wild boars, which sometimes 



FEOM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 147 

have been kno^vn to attack the traveller. They added, 
that although they never reached the place of danger 
till broad daylight, yet they invariably moved forward 
with the greatest circumspection, and, above all, put 
great confidence in their horses, which no sooner prick 
up their ears, or begin to snort, than each and all 
seize their weapons. It is well known that lions and 
panthers in a climate like that of Central Asia are far 
less dangerous than their brethren in India and Africa, 
and therefore I did not share the fears of my young 
Tartar companion ; on the contrary, I rather longed for 
adventure and the excitement of the chase. The 
Qllzbeg, however, like a true Asiatic, possesses an 
excitable imagmation; there was neither trace nor 
sound to indicate that we were near the abode of the 
king of animals, and we saw nothing but some herds 
of wild boars, who with a loud crash made their way 
through the thick underwood, and an immense, nay, 
fabulous number of Guinea-fowl and pheasants, of 
which we made rich spoil for our evening halt. 
These birds are in this part of the country of a 
much finer flavour than in Mazendran, the OEzbegs 
also understand far better than the Persians to dress 
and cook them. Emerging from the forest, we soon 
came in sight of the fortified place Kiziltshagalan, 
which is inhabited by Qj^zbegs. We arrived there in 
good time, and the following morning continued our 
road across a district inhabited by Yomuts. 

Kohne Urgendj is considered the fourth station, 
although the journey thither does not occupy above 



148 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

three hours. This ancient metropohs of far-famed 
Kharezm, in Central Asia, is the poorest of all those 
cities in Asia which have shared the same fate, and 
however much its former splendour is extoUed in 
word and writuig, I could not help feelmg at the 
sight of its still existing rums, that it had been the 
centre of no higher than Tartar civilisation. The town 
of the present day is small, dirty and insignificant, 
although it must have been much larger m former 
times, to judge from the rums that he scattered out- 
side the wall. These rums are not older than the 
Islamitic era, and date from the reign of Shahi Kha- 
rezmian, an epoch of a higher culture. The most re- 
markable object here is the mosque of Torebeg Khanim 
(not Khan), of which I have already made mention in 
my " Travels," and which is larger and more splendid 
than Hazreti Pehlivan. The latter, nevertheless, has 
been considered hitherto the finest monument m Khiva, 
and it must be admitted that with its works in Kashi 
(glazed tiles), in which throughout the yellow colour 
predommates, it is not mferior to any architectural 
monument of the same kind in Turkestan. Further 
is seen the mausoleums of Sheikh Sheref with a his^h 
azure dome, of Piriyar, the father of the very celebrated 
Pehlivan, and of Sheikh Nedshm ed-din Klibera. The 
latter has of late been restored from decay by the libe- 
rality of Mehemmed Emm Khan. I was told that there 
are m the neighbourhood several towers and walls built 
'^f stone, such as Puldshoydu (money destroyed) which 
is distant three hours' journey. Whenever a storm 



FROM KHIVA TO KUNGRAT AND BACK. 149 

ploughs up the sand-hills there, corns and vessels of 
gold and silver are discovered, and people who take 
the trouble of siftmg the sand, find frequently their 
labour amply requited. There is also the Aysanem, 
or double kiosk of Aysanem and Shahsanem, the 
famous pair of lovers, whose romantic fate forms the 
subject of a collection of songs frequently sung by the 
native minstrels. The name appears to be a stereo- 
typed name for any two isolated ruins, since there are 
Shahsanems to be found in other parts of Khiva and 
Bokhara, as well as in the neighbourhood of Herat, 
and everywhere the same legends are recorded of 
them with few variations. 

At Kohne Urgendj the road divides, both branches 
running at a small distance from each other. The 
one less frequented runs by Porsu and Yilali, and is 
taken by people who travel m large parties; the 
proximity of the maraudmg tribes of the Tshaudors 
and Yomut Turkomans, rendering the road, at least as 
far as Tashhauz, very insecure. The second road, 
nearer the Oxus, rmis with few mterruptions along 
its banks, a tract of country strewn with farmsteads 
(Havlis), villages and hamlets. This road is generally 
taken in summer, although it is the longer of the two, 
and also more troublesome .on account of the many 
ditches and canals for irrigation. Whereas, a caravan 
must keep together as far as Tashhauz on the former 
road, travellers on the latter may- part company as 
early as at Kiptchak, and each continue his way 
separately. 



CHAPTER X. 

MY TARTAR. 

1 CAXXOT conooivo it possible to imagine a greater 
eoTitrast than an Asiatic, and more particularly a Cen- 
tral Asiatic, who, as late as two years ago, wrapt in 
his national garb of ample width, hanging about him 
in loose folds, ^^-as feeding on the simple and primitive 
fare of a nomadic people, and who, at the present mo- 
ment, booted and spurred, moves about in the closely- 
fitting costume of the Hungarians, and is already ac- 
customed to the iood and manners of the West; one, 
who, destined to lead the life of a Mollah, once spent 
his time hi the lonely cell of the ]\Iedresse jMehemmed 
Emui at Khiva, absorbed either in prayer or in the doc- 
trines of Islamism, and who is now seen tiu-nmg over 
the large folios in the library of a European academy, 
acquainted with books on philosophy, or the histor}^ of 
the Avorld and religion, Greek and Latin literature, 
and numberless authors besides ; who scarcely ever had 
heard the name of Europe, or had heard it mentioned 
only in terms of the utmost abhorrence ; who knew no 
other institutions, no other phases or aspects of men and 
thino's, but those in his own wild Eiistern world, and 



MY TARTAR. ' 151 

recognised these alone as true and reasonable; — and 
who now is reading the leading articles of European 
newspapers, discussing the different politics of Western 
countries, and unhesitatingly making the boldest com- 
parisons between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. 

These are certainly clear and sharply-defined con- 
trasts, and such contrasts my friend the Mollah exhibits 
'"'' in propria persond^^'' — the Hadji whom I brought with 
me from Central Asia, whom I met with whilst on his 
way to Mekka, who became my companion and asso- 
ciate, and who, instead of the holiest of holy cities, 
now Uves with me in the metropolis of Hungary. 
How I succeeded in inducing him to form this resolu- 
tion has been to many a matter of the liveliest curiosity 
to know; nor were their enquiries less eager as to the 
impression made upon him by my metamorphosis from 
the pious dervish into the European traveller. One 
fundamental error ran through all these enquiries, — 
namely, the strange behef that my change had been 
as sudden as that of the chr}^salis to the butterfly. It 
was, on the contraiy, extremely gradual, and its vari- 
ous phases are the more interesting, since they illus- 
trate in a striking manner the difference between 
Eastern and Western hfe. The history of my trans- 
formation, in fact, deserves to be given in detail. 

I first met my Tartar, as I mentioned before, in 
Khiva. A ^lollah, young and animated with a desire 
for travelling, he was in search of a companion on his 
journey to Mekka, and in the full belief to find in me 



152 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

a Turk and a Mohamedan, the most suitable fellow- 
traveller, he at once attached himself to me with the 
utmost ardour and devotion. During the early part 
of our acquaintance he saw in me merely the learned 
Mollah, the wild zealot, whom he approached mth the 
greatest veneration, listening most attentively to every 
word that fell from my lips. Such was the relation 
that existed between us throughout our journey to 
Bokhara, Samarkand, and Karshi, as far as the banks of 
the Oxus. Here I became rnore confidential towards 
him : occasionally I put off somewhat the disguise of 
my aiFected sanctity ; we grew more and more intimate 
by degrees; our slender store of provisions was put 
into one common bag, and as he was thoroughly honest 
and true-hearted, his sincere and loyal friendship be- 
came a great support and comfort to me on my sohtary 
and perilous journey. Only slowly, and with difficulty, 
could he accustom himself to a real and mutual inti- 
macy; and on our beggmg expeditions he would take 
upon himself, as his own undisputed task, to collect 
the heavy contributions, such as wood, flour, &c., 
whilst he left to me the less onerous business of col- 
lecting the pence. In the evening he made it his duty 
to prepare the supper, and, after having served the 
rice on a piece of rag or a board, it was always a mat- 
ter of conscience with him not to touch it until I had 
twice helped myself with my hands. I. do not know 
whether veneration or conscience inspired him with 
this excessive respect, but, be the cause what it may, 



MY TARTAR. 153 

he invariably shrank from placing himself in a position 
of equality. Not mshing to spoil his pleasure, I there- 
fore let him do exactly as he pleased. 

On our journey from the Oxus to Herat, my feigned 
devoutness visibly decreased in exact proportion as the 
distance between me and fanatic Bokhara kept increas- 
ing. Prayers, ablutions, pious meditations — aU became 
less frequent. My Tartar, no doubt, observed this, 
but it did not seem to trouble him, and he accommo- 
dated himself ungrudgingly to his master. His ques- 
tions on religion were fewer, but he listened instead 
with more eager attention to my descriptions and nar- 
ratives of the foreign land of the ' Frengi,' and the 
pictures I drew of those marvellous countries of the 
West. Such lectures as these were usually delivered 
during our night marches, when we were riding alone 
in intimate converse, and at some distance from the 
caravan. The pleasure I felt in being able to talk of 
my beloved West in a barbarous country, surrounded 
as I was with dangers in so doing, was not greater 
than my Tartar's astonishment when he heard that 
there were towns more beautiful than Bokhara, and 
countries where it was possible to travel without fear 
of robbers or of dying with thii^st. He was especially 
struck when I assured him that the ' Frens^is,' so far 
from being the savage, pitiless cannibals, such as they 
had been represented to him, possessed heart and feel- 
ing, and that they were iniinitely superior to their 
reputed character in the East. Under different cir- 



154 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

cumstances he might have doubted the truth of my 
assertions; but as I, the Efendi, his teacher and 
master, assured him of these facts, he placed implicit 
belief in all I told him. No wonder that I was pleased 
with his thirst for knowledge and his loyalty, and that 
I in return became greatly attached to my young Tar- 
tar. Moreover, he kept as much as possible aloof from 
the other Central Asiatics, his countrymen, uniting 
himself more closely to my society. As soon as I 
perceived — which I could not fail to do before long — 
that something could be made of the young man, I 
resolved not to let him leave me, but, if possible, to 
take him with me to Europe. If such was my determi- 
nation long before we came to Herat, it was still further 
strengthened by the brilliant proofs of his attachment 
and fidelity which he showed to me during our resi- 
dence in this town. Here, as is already known, my 
sufferings and privations reached their climax. Totally 
without means, I had not unfrequently to bear all the 
torments of hunger; and whenever, at this advanced 
season of the year, the cold prevented my sleeping 
duruig the night, it was my young Tartar who honestly 
shared with me his poor thin rags, in order to procure 
for me a warmer covering and a quiet sleep. During 
these six weeks that we spent in Herat we suiFered, 
indeed, greatly; but I tried to strengthen the courage 
of my companion by assuring him that we should 
meet with certain help in Persia. The idea that a 
pious Sunnite should fare well m the heretical country 



MY TARTAR. 155 

of the Shiites, appeared to him sufficiently droll; but 
the child-like innocence of his heart, and his unaffected 
confidence in me, prevented his making any further 
conjectures. He looked, like myself, with intense 
longing to the frontiers of Iran, and the capital of 
Khorassan. 

At last we arrived in Meshed. The hearty friendship 
of the Enghsh officer here, and his kindness towards me 
as well as my companion, were at first a great puzzle to 
my Tartar. He knew Dolmage was a Frengi ; — what 
strange thoughts must have crossed his mind, in his 
astonishment at seeing me, the pious Mohamedan, 
his " chef spirituel," sit for hours in the company of 
an unbeliever, talking with him hi a foreign language, 
nay, eating with him out of one and the same dish. 
The servants of the English officer, and indeed every 
one in the town, repeatedly declared to him their 
opinion that his master was a Frengi in disguise. He 
shuddered at the thought, and although he heard 
these suspicions with feelings of anger and indignation, 
yet he never questioned me on this point, and his firm 
faith m me remained unshaken. Moreover, his at- 
tachment to me naturally increased, from findmg in 
me at all times a friend and protector, especially on our 
journey to Teheran, when, on account of his Tartar 
costume, he had frequently to encounter the ill-will of 
the vindictive Shiites. On my part, again, it was, I 
consider, no small risk, to travel for a whole month 
alone with this man, to pass whole nights alone with 



156 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

him in desolate spots. Let one single evil thought 
arise in his heart, and it would have been an easy 
matter for him to kill me during my noon-day slum- 
bers on the open road, and, carrying with him my 
horses, weapons and money, to escape into the desert 
northward to the Turkomans. But I never harboured 
any such suspicion. Fully confiding in him, I en- 
trusted to his charge my musket, sword and horse; 
when tired and fatigued I stretched myself out upon 
the sand and slept soundly and securely, whilst he 
acted as sentinel; for at the very beginning of our 
acquaintance I had discovered that he had a true heart, 
and I cannot say that I have ever once been mistaken 
in this respect. 

It was in Shahrud where he saw me for a second 
time embrace an unbeliever. He was struck by it, 
and said: " My master, thou art truly wise, in always 
associating with the Frengis; for these Persians, al- 
though they believe in the Koran and m Mohammed, 
are, by heaven! a hundred times worse than the un- 
believers ! " On this occasion he expressed to me also, 
after having met a second Englishman, his surprise at 
finding these Frengis, both " outwardly and inwardly, 
such agreeable persons;" and yet he found it difficult 
to approach them. He would stare at them and scru- 
tinize them for hours, proving clearly that, although 
he had partly got rid of his deeply-rooted prejudices, 
a certain degree of shyness and reserve was still cling- 
ing to him. 



MY TARTAR. 157 

During the latter part of our inarch towards the 
Persian capital, my joyous feehngs occasionally woke 
within me some long-forgotten song or melody. I 
began first to whistle, and then to smg, popular airs 
of certain operas. Whisthng is not practised m the 
East, and regarded as extremely frivolous and inde- 
corous; nevertheless, he was greatly pleased with the 
charming melodies from the Troubadour, Lucia, and 
others. He asked me with great naivete, whether in 
Mekka people recited the Koran with these accompani- 
ments, and was greatly astonished when I rephed in 
the negative. 

It was at the post station of Ahuan for the first 
time he heard me called by my European name. This 
name touched the tenderest fibres of his heart, and no 
doubt he struggled long and painfully before he found 
the courage to question me. I rephed, that I would 
give him an answer m Teheran, and this set him at 
rest for a time. On my arrival in Teheran, I lodged 
with my old friends in the Turkish embassy. The 
young Efendis, who represented the Sultan, were 
fashionable European diplomatists, bearing the signs 
of Frengiism in far stronger colours than myself. This 
lessened his suspicions ; and when I enhghtened him 
on the modern civilization of his Sunnitic brethren in 
the West, he gradually became aware of the immense 
gulf between Stamboul and Bokhara. He was told of 
the continuous efforts of the Osmanlis to assimilate 
themselves as much as possible to the Western conn- 



158 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

tries and their culture, and he could not help following 
this example himself. If we take into account, that 
he saw and heard nothing but what was good and 
excellent of the few Frengis whom he had hitherto 
had the opportunity of knowing, it was natural that 
his hatred and his prejudices should vanish day by 
day. 

In Teheran he made the acquaintance of a country- 
man of mine, Mr. Szanto, who frequently came to see 
me, and with whom he was soon on terms of intimacy. 
Szanto told him with no small joy, that he and his 
master (he meant me) were the only Magyars in Per- 
sia. The Magyars, moreover, the philologizmg tailor 
added, are the kindred of the Osmanlis, — a statement 
the Tartar felt surprised at, but which did not exactly 
disquiet him, our long intercourse and friendship re- 
concihng him to all he saw and heard. And seeing 
in me more affection and kindness than in the genuine 
Turk, the trifling difference as to nationality troubled 
him very little. He roved about cheerfully in Tehe- 
ran, making himself acquainted with the manners and 
language of the Persians, and was extremely glad, 
when, after a residence of several weeks, we were 
saddling our horses once more for our journey to Con- 
stantinople. 

Hitherto no other plan had been talked of, but that 
he was to accompany me as far as Constantinople, and 
from thence go on to Mekka by Alexandria. Buti soon 
I perceived that this original plan no longer pleased 



MY TAETAR. 159 

him, and that he intended to do otherwise. Our hfe 
in the Turkish embassy m Teheran, where everything 
was arranged after the European manner, and our fre- 
quent intercourse with other embassies, had shown 
him a part of Western life in a very pleasant aspect, 
and awakened in him the desire to visit with me these 
wonderful countries. Nor is it difficult to understand 
how his original longing, to prostrate himself upon the 
grave of the holy Prophet, receded more and more 
into the background. His sound understandmg was 
not long in penetrating this religious humbug; and, 
having naturally a great love for adventure, he soon 
resolved, instead of the illustrious Mekka, to go and 
visit Frengistan, a country formerly thought of with 
dread and detestation. 

I pretended not to observe what was passing in his 
mind, and putting him on shore at Constantmople, I 
was about to take leave of him, after havmg amply 
provided him with money. The young Tartar looked 
at me fixedly with tears m his eyes, and in spite of 
the sight of the proud minaret, in spite of the crowd 
of orthodox worshippers who surrounded him here on 
every side, he felt constrained to say to me, in a voice 
trembhng with emotion, and interrupted by frequent 
sobs : "• Efendi, do not leave me here behind alone. 
Thou hast brought me from Turkestan into this strange 
land: I know here no one but thee. I follow thee, 
gladly, whithersoever thou gdest ! " — "What, ^vilt thou 
come with me to Frengistan?" I asked him; "from 



160 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 



pes» 
;houHI 



thence it is very far to Mekka ; there are no mosques 
and public baths, no Mussulman food; how wilt thou 
Hve there?" For a moment he seemed perplexed 
but after a brief silence he rephed: " The Frengis are 
such good and kind people ; I should hke to see their 
country; and afterwards I will return to Stamboul." 
I required no more. Fully understanding the charac- 
ter of my Central Asiatic friend, I embarked with him 
once more on the shore of the Bosphorus, and in three 
days he was already upon a steamer on the Danube, 
surrounded by Europeans, and on his way to the not 
far distant capital of Hungary. On board the steamer 
I found him often absorbed in thought. Not yet ven- 
turing to taste European food, he gazed at everything 
around him ^Yiih a shy timidity, but gradually he grew 
accustomed to the novelty of the scene, and a few days 
later he promenaded the streets of Pesth in Bokhara 
costume. During the first few days he could scarcely 
find words, so full was he of amazement. Everythmg, 
indeed, appeared to him hke an enchantment. He ad- 
mh^ed all he saw, from the square-hewn paving stones 
in the streets to the lofty buildings and towers; and 
it can easily be imaghaed what singular, and at times 
comical, remarks he made; — he, the son of the desert, 
in the midst of one of the first cities in Europe. He 
was much struck with the quick walking of people in 
the streets, and the rapid movements of the vehicles; 
but, above all, the women arrested his attention; and 
he could not understand how the Frengi, clever and 



MY TARTAR. 161 

sensible people as they are, could allow their women- 
folk to appear m pubhc m such clumsy and uncouth 
attire, and without any protection. In the day time 
I often saw him standiug by the telegraph Avires, lis- 
tening to the sounds that passed along them. At night 
he would stare at the gas lamps, full of curiosity to 
discover whether it was the iron that was burning. 
At the hotel, the luxury and magnificence -that sur- 
rounded him filled him with astonishment. Judo^ino^ 
of every person he met by his dress, he regarded every 
one as some mighty lord or potentate, and frequently 
exclaimed : " Oh ! this is a happy country I Here seems 
to be not a single poor man ! " He soon grew accus- 
tomed to the looks of curiosity that followed him 
wherever he went. His former dread of the Frengi 
had enth^ely disappeared; he had a pleasant face for 
every one, and frequently entered eagerly mto con- 
versation with the first person he met, forgettmg, m 
his characteristic manner, that no one could under- 
stand him; and he would go on talkmg to his heart's 
content, without beiug in the least disturbed by the 
surprise exhibited by those he was thus addressing. 

I should most gladly have taken him on with me to 
London, had I not deemed it better for him to leave 
him for the while behind in Hungary. A friend of 
mine, who lived in the country, received him kindly 
mto his house ; and when, after a year's absence, I re- 
turned from England, I was not a little surprised to 
find my young Tartar dressed in the Hungarian cos- 

11 



162 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

tiime, and, instead of the turban, with his hair nicely 
curled and trimmed, with a rather droll air and de- 
meanour, and a certain stiff gravity in his manner. 
He had learned the Hungarian language in a very 
short time; he was everywhere liked and heartily 
welcomed, and when, for the first time, I saw him 
smartly dressed, and with gloves on his hands, talking 
most courteously and earnestly to a lady in her draw- 
ing-room, I could scarcely refrain from laughter. Two 
years ago a Mollah of a Medresse, he is now grown 
into half a dandy : — in truth what cannot be made of 
an Oriental? Being able to write as well as speak 
Hungarian, my friends kindly procured him an ap- 
pointment as assistant - librarian in the Academy, 
which position he fills at the present moment. When 
I question him about his new life, and talk to him of 
the difi"erence between Eastern and Western manners 
and habits, I find that his past life floats like a dream 
across his mind, which he cherishes only as a distant 
reminiscence, but which he would not on any account 
exchange for his present existence. He rarely feels 
any longing for his native home, and he loves our 
Western civilisation for the following reasons. In the 
first place, he is particularly pleased with the perfect 
security that society affords to the individual, and the 
absence of any arbitrary tyranny on the part of the 
Government. In Central Asia a man's bare fife is not 
safe on the roads from robbers; in the towns he is 
threatened with constant danger from the barbarous 



MY TARTAR. 163 

decrees of the authorities. The frequent cruel execu- 
tions, the desolating civil wars in his country, have 
never struck him until now, when he has become 
aware how thousands of persons come m daily contact 
with each other, without quarrels, fighting, or blood- 
shed ensuing— all consequences of frequent occurrence 
in his native country. Secondly, the comfort which 
Europeans enjoy, at once benefits and captivates him. 
He finds the house of a simple citizen better appointed 
than the palace of his sovereign. The cleanliness in 
dress and food, the reciprocal ofiices of kmdness and 
courtesies of society, are magnets which attract him 
and make him forget his rude and uncivilised home. 
Thirdly, it is a special delight to him to find that the 
various differences of rehgion and nationality are 
scarcely ever felt here, whilst in the East they form 
the strongest barriers between man and man. With 
him at home the mere notion of visiting the country 
of the Frengi would have been certain death, and now 
he lives in the very heart of their land, not only with- 
out encountering hostility, but actually received with 
cordiahty and afi"ection. 

With regard to his feelings on Islamism, his own 
speculations had already in some degree enlightened 
him. He observed that the nearer he approached the 
West, the more Mahometan fanaticism decreased, and 
as he, in proportion with its decrease, drew nearer 
and nearer to humanity and order, he could not help 
suspecting very soon that Islamism, or at least the 



UU 8KKTCHKS OF CENTRA I ASIA. 

Iskiuisui ho know an^l ooutossod, was tbo doohiroJ 
en^my of civilisiitiou and ivfincuiont of life, such as 
he met with m Kui\>po. Ho has novor yot uttered a 
woixl of aversion or ropronoh when rotorring tti tlio 
dootruies of the Anibiau j>rophot. hut his subth^ and 
s[VOulativo theories sutheiontly indioato that a stivnij- 
iVA\)hitioii has been wrought within him. Without 
wishina^ to assi<»ii the cause of this xi'ix^at contmst be- 
t^ween the East and the West solely to tho inliuonoo of 
Christianity^, he has, nevertlieless, arrived so 4?ir in his 
conelusions as to conipivheud that our western culture 
and mode of lite are hieonipitible with the tejichings 
of Mahomet. He has never yet distinctly expressed 
to me his preference of either one or the other religion, 
and it will probably be long beforo ho will venture to 
give expression to any thought of the kind. His 
allusions ai\d fnigmentary remarks, however, prove 
that his muid is oceupied with (piestions of this 
nature^ and that the great struggle with himself has 
begun. 

Such, indeed, is tlie historj^ of ever^^ Mussulman, 
whether Tartar, Arab, Persian, or Turk, as soon as 
he becomes thowughly acq\iaii\ted with our w^estern 
ci"vilisation — a complete tnuisformation but seldom 
i>ccurs. The highly important question, whether the 
ci\TLlisation of the East or West is the better — ^whether 
the teaching of Christ or of ]!iIohanuned is the true 
reliij^ion, will lono" reniaii\ muieoidod bv the nations of 
Asia; — nay, so long, T feel inolinod to s:iy, as the rays 



MY TARTAR. 165 

of the sun pi'oduce mth us a temperate, with them a 
burning, heat; so long as distance separates the east 
and the west. Were it possible to bring the doctrines 
of Christianity more into conformity with their views, 
by setting aside those of the Incarnation and the 
Trinity, and were these tenets, thus modified, put 
into the place of the Koran, an opportunity might be 
presented of making a small, but only a very small, 
step in advance. I say advisedly a small step, since 
Christianity, though sprung from an Eastern soil, has 
long ago proved to be a plant which can only flourish 
in the West. And who would deny that the Koran 
and Vedas, created as they are by an Eastern mind 
and in the spirit of Eastern nations, are prized and 
revered by them above everything besides ? Their dis- 
appearance would bring new and similar productions 
into existence. I venture almost to assert that the 
Christian tenets would, after a time, become trans- 
formed, on Eastern soil, into a sort of Koran or Vedas, 
in order to be the typical embodiment of oriental sen- 
timent, and be recognised by orientals as their real 
and peculiar property. Are not the Xestorians, Arme- 
nians, and other followers of the Eastern Church, all 
disciples of Christianity ? but as great as the difference 
is between them and their co-religionists in Europe, 
so little do they differ in their mode of thought, their 
feelings, and views of life, from theii- Moliammedan 
fellow-countrymen in the East. 



CHAPTEE XI. 

THE KOUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 

" Hadji ! Thou hast, I am sure, seen many coun- 
tries — tell me now, is there another city iii the world 
in which it is so agreeable to reside as Bokhara?" 
Such was the mquiry with which I was frequently 
greeted in the Tartar capital, even by men who had 
ah'eady several times visited India, Persia, and Tur- 
key. My answer upon these occasions it is not of course 
diiiicult to divine. Questions of a nature so delicate 
are an embarrassment to the traveller when he is in. 
Paris, London, or St. Petersburg, just as much as 
when he is in Constantinople, Teheran, or Bokhara. 
One encounters egotism everywhere. 

Bokhara, the focus of Tartar civihzation, posesses 
beyond a doubt much to remind one of a capital, par- 
ticularly when a man enters it as a traveller, commg 
immediately from a journey of many weeks through 
deserts and sohtudes. As for the luxury of its dwell- 
ings, its dresses, and manner of living, that hardly 
merits attention at all when compared with what is to 
be seen in the cities of Western Asia. Still it has its 
peculiarities, which prevent one wondering so much 



THE BOUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 167 

that habit and partiality dispose the Bokhariot to be 
proud of his native city. 

The houses, built of mud and wood, present, with 
their crooked pamtless walls, a gloomier appearance 
than the dwellm2:s of other Mohammedan cities. On 
entering the court through the low gateway, one 
fancies oneself in a fortress. On all the sides there 
are high walls, which serve as a protection, not so 
much agamst thieves as against the amatory oglings 
of intriguuig neighbours. In Bokhara, the most 
shameless sink of iniquity that I know in the East, a 
glance even from a distance is regarded as dishonour- 
ing ! The number of the separate apartments varies 
with the fortmie of the proprietor. The more im- 
portant part of them comprises the harem, styled here 
Enderun (the inner penetralia), the smaller room for 
guests, and the hall for receptions. This last is the 
most spacious, as well as the most ornamented apart- 
ment in the house, and, like the other rooms, has a 
double ceiling, with a space between used as a store- 
room. The floor is paved with bricks and stones, and 
has only carpets round the sides near the walls. 
Rectangular stones, which have been hollowed out, 
are placed in a corner — a comfortable contrivance 
enablmg the owner to perform the holy ablutions in 
the room itself. This custom is met with in no other 
Mohammedan comitry. The walls have no particular 
decorations; those, however, which are nearest to 
Mekka are pamted with flowers, vases, and arabesques 



168 SKETCHES or CENTRAL ASIA. 

of clifFerent kinds. The windows are mere openings, 
each with a pair of shutters. Glass is seen nowhere, 
and few take the trouble to use paper smeared with 
fat as a substitute. Articles of furniture, still rarities 
throughout the East, are here scarcely known by 
name; but this need not excite surprise, for often 
have I heard Orientals who have visited Europe ex- 
claim : " Is not that a stupid custom among the 
Frengi, that they so crowd their handsome, spacious 
rooms with such a heap of tables, sofas, chairs, and 
other things, that they have hardly place left to seat 
themselves in any comfort ! " Of course meaning on 
the ground. 

The expenditure upon the wardrobe is on a footing 
with the style of each house and its arrangement. 
Cloth is rarely met with : it serves for presents from 
the Khan to his officials of high rank. Different 
quahties of the Aladja (cotton) are employed by all 
classes, from king to dervish, for winter and summer. 
Although the Bokhariot over-garment has the form of 
a night- dress extending down to the ankles, still it is 
subject from time to time to little innovations as to 
cut, sleeve, collar, and trimming, in accordance with 
the fashion of the moment, which is as much respected 
in Bokhara as in Paris. A dandy in the former city 
takes especial care to have his turban folded according 
to the idea in force at the moment, as an evidence of 
good taste. He sees particularly to his shawl, by 
which he binds his trousers round the loins, and to 



THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 169 

his koshbag suspended to that shawl. The koshbag 
is a piece of leather consisting of several tongues, to 
which are fastened a knife or two, a small tea-bag, a 
iniswak (toothpick), and a leathern bag for copper 
money. These articles constitute the indispensables 
of a Central Asiatic, and by the quahty and value of 
each is a judgment formed of the character and 
breeding of the man. 

Whoever may wish to see the haute voUe, the fashion- 
able world of Bokhara, should post himself on a Friday, 
between ten and twelve o'clock in the forenoon, in the 
street leading from Deri Rigistan to the Mesdjidi Kelan, 
or great mosque. At this time the Ameer, followed by 
his grandees, in great state, betakes himself to his 
Friday's devotions. All are in their best attire, upon 
their best horses; for these, with their splendid hous- 
ings, serve as substitutes for carriages. The large, 
stiff, silken garments of staring colours are in striking 
contrast with the high and spurred boots. But what 
produces a particularly comic effect is the loose and 
waddling gait which all pedestrians studiously put on. 
Reftari khiraman (the waddling or trotting step), 
which Oriental poets find so graceful, comparing it to 
the swaying movement of the cypress when agitated 
by the zephyrs, and whose attainment is the subject 
of careful study in Persia as well as Bokhara, to us 
Europeans seems like the gait of a fatted goose 
flomidering on his way home. But this is no sub- 
ject for me to jest upon, for our stiff, rapid pace is just 



170 SliETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

as displeasing to an Oriental eye, and it would not be 
very polite to mention the comparison they make use 
of with repect to us. 

It does not excite less wonder on our part when we 
see the men in Bokhara clad in wide garments of 
brilliant colour, whereas the women wear only a dress 
that is tight to the shape, and of a dark hue. For in 
this city, where the civihzation has retained with the 
greatest fidelity its antique stamp of Oriental Islamism, 
women, ever the martyrs of Eastern legislation, come 
in for the worst share. 

In Turkey the contact with Christian elements 
has already introduced many innovations, and the 
Yaschmak (veil) is rather treated as part of the 
toilette than as the ensign of slavery. In Persia 
the women are tolerably well muffled up, still they 
wear the Tchakshur (pantaloons and stockings m one 
piece) of brilliant colouring and silken texture, and 
the Kubend (a linen veil with network for the eyes) 
is ornamented with a clasp of gold. In Bokhara, on 
the other hand, there is not a trace of tolerance. The 
women wear nothing that deserves to be named full 
dress or ornament. When in the streets, they draw 
a covermg over their heads, and are seen clad in dark 
gowns of deep blue, with the empty sleeves hanging 
suspended to their backs, so that observed from be- 
hind, the fair ones of Bokhara may be mistaken for 
clothes wandering about. From the head down to 
the bosom they wear a veil made of horsehair, of a 



THE EOUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 171 

texture which we in Europe would regard as too bad 
and coarse for a sieve, and the friction of which upon 
cheek or nose must be anything but agreeable. Their 
chaussures consist of coarse heavy boots, in which their 
little feet are fixed, enveloped in a mass of leather- 
Such a costume is not in itself attractive ; but even so 
attired, they dare not be seen too often in the streets. 
Ladies of rank and good character never venture 
to show themselves in any public place or bazaar. 
Shopping is left to the men ; and whenever any extra- 
ordinary emergency obliges a lady to leave the house 
and to pay visits, it is regarded as hon ton for her to 
assume every possible appearance of decrepitude, 
poverty, and age. 

To send forth a young lady in her eighteenth or 
twentieth year, in all the superabundant energy of 
youth, supported upon a stick, and thus muffled up, 
in the sole view that the assumption of the character- 
istics of advanced life may spare her certain glances, 
may be justly deemed the ne plus ultra of tyranny 
and hypocrisy. These erroneous notions of morahty 
are to be met with, more or less, everywhere m the 
East; but nowhere does one find such striking ex- 
amples of Oriental exaggeration as in that seat of 
ancient Islamite civihzation, Bokhara. In Constanti- 
nople, as well as other cities of Turkey, there are 
certain Seir-yeri (promenades), where ladies appear in 
public. In Teheran, Ispahan, and Shiraz, it is the 
custom for the Hanims, en grande toilette^ and mounted 



172 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

on magnificent horses, to make excursions to the places 
of pilgrimage situate in the environs of those cities. 
The tomb of the Said is the place of rendezvous, and 
instead of prayers, reciprocal declarations of love are 
not seldom made. In Bokhara, on the contrary, there 
is not a shadow of all this. ISFever have I seen there 
a man in the company of his wife. The husband 
slinks away from his other half, or thu'd, or fourth, as 
the case may be ; and it is a notorious fact, that when 
the wives of the Ameer pass by any place, all men 
are expected to beat a hasty retreat. Under such 
circumstances it is easy to see how society must con- 
stitute itself, and what shapes it must assume. Where 
the two sexes are so separated, it can never put on 
an appearance of gladness and geniality; all becomes 
compulsion and hypocrisy; every genuine sentiment 
is crushed by these unnatural laws which are imposed 
as God's ordinances, and as such expected to be ob- 
served with the strictest obedience. 

To study that part of their lives which is before 
the public eye, we must first pay a visit to the tea- 
booths, which are the resorts of all classes. The 
Bokhariot, and the remark applies indeed universally to 
all Central Asiatics, can never pass by a second or third 
tea-booth mthout entering, unless his afikirs are very 
urgent indeed. As I before mentioned, every man 
carries with him his little bag of tea : of this, on his 
entry, he gives a certain portion to the landlord, whose 
business is rather to deal in hot water than in tea. 



THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 173 

During day-time, and particularly in public places, 
the only tea drunk is green tea, which is served with- 
out sugar, and with -the accompaniment of a relish or 
two, consisting of little cakes made of flour and mut- 
ton suet; for the makmg of these Bokhara is famous. 
As any attempt to cool tea by blowmg upon it, how- 
ever urgent on account of its heat some such process 
may be, is regarded as highly indecorous — nay, as an 
unpardonable offence — the Central Asiatic is wont to 
make it revolve for this purpose in the cup itself until 
the temperature is tolerable. To pass for a man comme 
il faut^ one must support the right elbow in the left 
hand, and gracefully give a circular movement to the 
cup; no drop must be spilt, for such an awkwardness 
would much damage a reputation for savoir faire. 
The Bokhariot can thus chatter away hours and hours, 
amidst his fellow tea-drmkers; for the meaningless 
conversations that are maintained weary him as little 
as the cup after cup of tea which he swallows. It is 
known to a second how much time is required for 
each kind of tea to draw. Every time the tea-pot is 
emptied, the tea-leaves that have been used are passed 
round: etiquette forbids any one to take more than 
he can hold between finger and thumb, for it is re- 
garded by connoisseurs as the greatest dainty. 

They seek to find amusements of a higher kind in 
excursions to the environs of the city. These are 
made sometimes to the tombs of the saints ; sometimes 
to the convents of certain Ishans (sheiks), in the 



174 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

odour of sanctity; sometimes to the Tchiharbag Ab- 
dullah Khan, situate near the Dervaze Imam. The 
visit to a Khanka, that is to a dignitary of religion 
still mstinct with life, is an act of more importance 
and involving greater outlay than the pilgrimage to a 
grave. The saiated men, whether departed or still 
hvmg, have equally their fixed days for levees and 
receptions. In the former case the descendants of his 
Sanctity receive the tribute, m the latter a man has 
the good fortune to have his purse emptied by the 
holy hands themselves. On the occasion of these 
formal visits the Ishans are tuned to a higher pitch 
than ordmary, and as the holy eye distinguishes at 
once by the exterior of the visitor the amount of the 
offering that is to be received, so does that measure 
serve to fix with precision how long or how short the 
benediction is to be cut. Scenes of this kind, in which 
I performed my part as a spectator, or stood by, were 
always full of interest to me; and one, over which I 
have had many a hearty laugh, has made an indelible 
impression upon my mind. In the environs of Bok- 
hara, I entered the residence of a sheikh to ask for his 
blessing and a httle assistance in money. Upon the 
first point no difficulty was made, but the second 
seemed to stagger him. At this moment a Turkoman 
was announced as an applicant for a Fatiha. He was 
allowed to enter. His holiness made his hocus-pocus 
with the greatest devotion. The Turkoman sat there 
like an innocent lamb, and after being subjected to the 



THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHAEA. 175 

influences of the sanctifying breath, energetically ad- 
ministered, he dived into his money-bag, from which 
he extracted some pieces of coin, and, without count- 
ing them, transferred them to the hand of him from 
whom he had received the benediction. I noticed 
that the latter rubbed the money betwixt his fingers, 
and was really astounded when he beckoned to me, 
and without once looking at the number of pieces, 
handed them over to me in the presence of the Turko- 
man. That was real liberahty, the reader may say. 
I thought so myself until coming to the bazaar and 
seeking to make a purchase from a baker, one of the 
coins was rejected by him as false. I tendered the 
others, and they were all pronounced to be bad — 
valueless. The nomad, as crafty as he was super- 
stitious, had paid for the spurious ware with spurious 
money, and as his holiness on his side had at once 
detected the cheat by the touch, he had no scruple in 
making it over to me. 

On the occasion of their excursions to the environs 
of the city, persons of wealth are in the habit of taking 
with them their tea-things, and a servant to prepare 
tea. Those who are not so well off have recourse to 
estabhshments that are to be found at these places of 
resort. Visitors evince just as much desire to hide 
themselves, where possible, in the booths, as they do to 
avoid encamping close to the road. As it is the ap- 
proved custom to invite every passer-by, be he of what 
rank he may, to take some refreshment of food or 



176 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

drink, each host entertains an apprehension, not un- 
justified by experience, lest those whom he accosts, 
not content with returning for answer the ordinary 
word expressive of gratitude — khosh (well) — may 
actually close at once with the invitation. Still, not 
to give it is everywhere regarded as a mean sin. 
Conditional acceptance only is usual in some places. 
These rules of hospitality so exaggerated, and at the 
same time so specious, operate oppressively and un- 
pleasantly, both on him that takes and him that gives ; 
and the confomided, I might almost say the aghast, 
air of the host who is taken at his word always pro- 
duced upon me the drollest effect. 

Tha spectacle which these private parties of pleasure 
generally afford is one of no great gladness, they 
rather seem to produce a deadly-lively effect. The 
significant joke, the peal of laughter, the loud cry are, 
it is true, none of them wanting on these occasions; 
but where the crown of society, woman, is absent, all 
is in vain, and never can life assume its real aspect of 
genume enjoyment. 

If I do not err, it is the Tchiharbag Abdullah 
Khan that still preserves most of the characters of a 
public place of entertainment. It is a spot well shaded 
by lofty trees ; a canal flows through it, to whose banks 
the pupils of the numerous colleges and the young 
men belongmg to the wealthier classes, resort generally 
on Friday afternoons. The inevitable tea-kettle is 
here again in requisition, and tea is the article for 



THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHAEA. 177 

which the place is renowned; but not the only one, 
for the combats of rams are here celebrated also. 
The savageness with which these sturdy animals rush 
against each other when irritated, the fearful shock of 
their two heads, particularly when they struggle to 
push their antagonists back, present a spectacle very 
attractive to the inhabitant, not only of Bokhara, but 
of every part of Central Asia. What the bull-fight is 
in Spain, and horse-racing in England, these combats 
of rams are m Turkestan. The rams are trained to 
this sport, and it is really surprismg how these brutes 
support with obstinacy often as many as one hundred 
charges. When they first make their appearance on 
the avenue, the bystanders begin to wager as to the 
number of shocks their chosen champion will support. 
Sometimes the weaker combatant beats a retreat ; but 
very often the battle only ends with the entire dis- 
comfiture of one animal, consequent upon the cracking 
of his skull. It is a cruel spectacle ; still the cruelty 
does not seem so great in the middle of Tartary as 
some of the sports in which so many civilised nations 
of the West still find amusement. 

Let me now attempt to portray in the following 
slio-ht sketch the external mode of livino; in Bokhara. 
In the morning — I mean by the term before sunrise, 
as by rehgious compulsion every man is an early riser 
— one encounters people, half-asleep, and half-awake, 
and half-dressed, hurrying one by one to the mosques : 

12 



178 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

any delay in arriving not only entails reproach, but is 
considered as meriting punishment. The stir made 
by these devotees in running through the streets rouses 
the houseless dogs from their lairs in the out-of-the- 
way corners or upon the heaps of dung. These 
famished, horrid-looking animals — ^yet contrasted with 
their Stambouli brethren, presenting a princely ap- 
pearance — are crying proofs of the miserly nature of 
the Bokhariots. The poor creatures first struggle to 
rear their gaunt frames, mere skin and bone, from 
sleep; then they rub their rough, hairless carcases, 
against the mouldering walls, and this toilette at an 
end, they start upon their hunt for a dejeuner a la 
fourchette^ for .the most part made up of a few fleshless 
bones or carrion, but very often of kicks in the ribs 
administered by some compassionating and charitable 
inhabitant of Bokhara. At the same time as the dogs, 
awake the hardly-better lodged Parias of the Tartar 
capital — I mean the wretched men afflicted with in- 
curable and contagious skin diseases, who sit at the 
corners of the streets en famille^ and house in miserable 
tents. In Persia they are met with, remote from 
cities and villages, on the high roads; but here, owuig 
to the absence of sanitary regulations, they are tolerated 
in the middle of the city. Their lot is far the most 
terrible to which any son of earth can have to submit, 
and unhappily they are long livers too. Whilst the 
mother is clothing her other accursed offspring mth a 
scanty covering of rags, the father seats himself mth 



THE EOUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 179 

the most disfigured one amongst them by the roadside, 
in order to solicit charity and alms from those who 
pass. Charity and alms to prolong such an existence ! 

After the sun has looked long enough upon this 
miserable spectacle, the city in all its parts begins 
slowly to assume animation. The people return in 
crowds from the mosques; they are encountered on 
their way by troops of asses laden with wood, corn, 
grass, large pails of milk, and dishes of cream, pressing 
from all the city gates, and forcing their way in varied 
confusion through the narrow and crooked streets. 
Screams of alarm from the drivers, the reciprocal cries 
issuing from those who buy and those who sell, mix 
with that mighty hee-haw of the asses for which 
Bokhara is renowned. To judge by the first impres- 
sion, it might be supposed that the different drivers 
would be obliged to fish out their wood from milk, 
their grass from cream, charcoal from corn, silkworm- 
cocoons from skimmed milk. But no, nothing is spilt, 
nothing thrown down; the drivers are wont to flog 
each other through in right brotherly fashion, till in 
the end all arrives in safety at its destination. 

At an hour after sunrise the Bokhariot is already 
seated with his cup of Schirtschaj (milk-tea) : this 
beverage is composed of tea made from bricks of tea 
in the form of Kynaster, and abundantly flavoured 
with milk, cream, or mutton fat. This favourite drink 
of the Tartars, in which large quantities of bread are 
broken, would be more rightly described as a soup; 



180 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

and although the treat was highly commended to me, 
I had great difficulty in getting accustomed to it. 

After tea begins the day's work, and then one 
remarks particular activity in the streets. Porters 
loaded with great bales hurry to the bazaar. These 
goods belong to the retail dealers, who every evening 
pack up their shop and transport it to their own house. 
And then a long chain of two-humped camels that 
have no burdens are bemg led into the Karavanserai, 
destined to convey the produce of Central Asia m 
every direction. Here, again, stands a heavily-laden 
caravan from Russia, accompanied on its way by the 
prying eyes of the custom-house officials and their 
cohorts, for those long bales contain valuable pro- 
ductions of the industry of the unbelievers, and are 
destined accordingly to be doubly taxed. Merchants 
of all religions and from all nations run after the 
caravan ; the newly-arrived wares find customers 
even before they are unpacked, and at such moments 
Afghans, Persians, Tadjiks, and Hindoos, seem to get 
more excited than is the case even with the heroes of 
the Exchange m Paris, Vienna, or Frankfort-on-the- 
Maine. The Kirghis camel-driver, fresh from the 
desert, is the quietest of all; he is lost in astonish- 
ment, and knows not whether most to admire the 
splendour of the mud huts, the colour of the dresses, 
or the crowds swaying to and fro. But the greatest 
source of amusement to me was to observe how the 
Bokhariot, in his quality of inhabitant of a metropolis, 



THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 181 

jeers at these nomads; how he is constantly on the 
alert to place the rudeness of the sons of the desert m 
rehef by contrastmg it with his own refinement and 
civilisation. Whilst the bazaar fife, with all its alarm, 
tumult, shrieks, cries, hammering, scolding, and knock- 
ing, is in full force, the youths greedy of knowledge 
swarm about the numerous Medresse (colleges), there 
to learn to extract from their useless studies lessons of a 
more exalted kind of stupidity and a more grovelling 
hypocrisy. 

The greatest interest attaches to the primary school 
posted in the very centre of the bazaar, and often in 
the immediate neighbourhood of between ten and 
fifteen coppersmiths' workshops. The sight of this 
pubhc school, in which a MoUah, surrounded by 
several rows of children, gives his lessons m reading, 
in spite of the noise, is really comical. That, in a 
place where sturdy arms are brandishing hammers, 
hardly a smgle word is audible, we may readily sup- 
pose. Teachers and pupils are as red in the face as 
turkey-cocks from crying out, and yet nothing but the 
wild movement of the jaw and the swelling of the 
vems indicate that they are studying.* 

In the afternoon (T speak here of summer-time, for 
of the winters I have no personal experience), there is 
more tranquillity both in bazaar and street. On the 

* Schools thus placed in the middle of the bazaar are also met with in 
Persia : these are the cheapest schools for ehildi'en, still it is incredible that 
the Orientals should suffer such a stupid practice to exist, and that they do 
not remove these establishments for instruction to some less disturbed situation. 



182 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

banks of the water reservoir and of the canals, the true 
believers are engaged in performing the holy ablutions. 
Whilst one man is washing his feet from their layer of 
sweat and dirt, his neighbour uses the same water for 
his face, and a third does not scruple to quench his 
thirst with it. Water that consists of more than 
one hundred and twenty pints is, according to the 
texts of Islam, blind; which means that filth and dirt 
lose themselves therein, and the orthodox have the 
privilege to enjoy every abomination as a thing pure 
in itself. After a service in the mosques, all becomes 
again animated; it is the second summons to work 
durmg the day, for a period by no means so long. 
The Mussulman population soon begin then evening 
hohday, whilst Jews and Hindoos still remain busy. 
The former, who are for the most part employed in 
the handicraft of silk dyers, move stealthily and timidly 
through the streets, their spirits broken by their long 
and heavy servitude; the latter run about like men 
possessed, and their bold bearing shows that their home 
is not far off, and the time not so remote when they 
also had a government of their own. 

It is now within three hours of sunset. The ehte 
of society betake themselves to the Khanka (convent), 
to enjoy a treat, semi-rehgious and semi-hterary. It 
consists in the public reading of the Mesnevi, which 
.is declaimed at that time of the day by an experienced 
reader in the vestibule of the Khanka. This master- 
piece of Oriental poesy presents in its contemplations of 



THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 183 

terrestrial existence much elevation of thought. Ver- 
sification, language, metaphors, are, m reality, full of 
charm and beauty; but the audience in Bokhara are 
incapable of understanding it, and their enthusiasm is 
all afi*ectation. I often had seated at my side on these 
occasions a man who, in his excitement, would emit 
deep-drawn sighs, and even bellow hke a bull. I was 
quite amazed; and when I afterwards made enquiry 
as to his character, I heard that he was one of the 
meanest of misers, the proprietor of many houses, yet 
ready to make obeisance for even the smallest copper 
coin. No one is at all inclined to adopt the sentiment 
he hears there as the rule of his hfe, and still it is re- 
garded as becoming to be deeply impressed by the 
beauty of the expression. Every one knows that the 
sighs and exclamation of his neighbour proceed from 
no genuine emotion, and still all vie in these demon- 
strations of extraordinary feeling. 

Even before the last beams of the setting sun have 
lost themselves in the wide waste of sand on the west, 
the Tartar capital begins to repose. As the coolness 
commences, the stifling clouds of dust subside. Where 
canals or water-reservoirs are near at hand, they are 
rendered available — the ground is watered and then 
swept. The men seat themselves in the shade to wait 
for the Ezan (evening prayer) ; that heard, an abso- 
lute stillness ensues, and soon all are seated before 
the colossal dish of pilau, and after they have well 
loaded their stomachs with this heavy and greasy meal, 



184 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

any desire they may have felt to leave the house is 
quite extinguished. Two hours after sunset all the 
thoroughfares are as silent as death. No echo is heard 
in the darkness of the night but the heavy tread of the 
night-watchman makmg his rounds. These men are 
charged to put in force the strictest pohce regulations 
against thieves and seekers of love adventures; they 
scruple not to arrest any man, however honourable his 
position, if his foot crosses his threshold after the beat 
of the tattoo has issued its order that all the world 
should sleep. 

What in this mode of to^vn life so pleases the Bok- 
hariot — what makes him give so marked a preference 
to his own capital — is not difficult to divine. His mind 
has become familiarized with a simple mode of living, 
in Avhich, as yet, little luxury is to be found, and which, 
in externals, admits not much perceptible distmction 
between ranks and conditions of men. A universal 
acquiescence in the same poverty, or to use a more 
appropriate expression, the absence of different degrees 
of visible property, makes Bokhara, in the eye of many 
Asiatics, a favourite residence. I once met a Persian 
in Teheran who had been a slave in Bokhara fifteen 
years. And there, in the middle of his fatherland, 
and surrounded by his relatives, he sighed and pined 
for the Tartar capital. At the outset he was delighted 
with the bazaars, filled with articles of European luxury ; 
he contemplated them with childish delight ; but later 
he saw how the wealthier alone made their purchases, 



THE ROUND OF LIFE IN BOKHARA. 185 

and how all despised a man like him, clad in a cotton 
dress, the costume of the poor. JSTo wonder his wish 
carried him agam back to the spot where, at the time 
unconscious of his happiness, he was permitted to share 
■great physical comfort, without a thorn m his eye or a 
pang m his heart. 



CHAPTER XII. 

BOKHARA, THE HEAD QUARTERS OF 
MOHAMMEDANISM. 



" Bothara, mirevi divanei 
Laiki zen djiri zindankhanei." 

Thou wilt to Bokhara ? O fool for thy pains, 
Thither thou goest, to be put into chains. 

Mesneti. 



It has frequently been noticed by travellers in Central 
Asia, and we have likewise remarked upon it, that 
Bokhara considers itself the great pillar of Islamism, 
and the only pure fountain of the Mohammedan re- 
ligion. Nor is it the Bokhariots alone who take this 
view, but all the rest of the Mohammedan world, in 
whatever region or country, unite in looking up to 
and extolling the Turkestan capital for possessing this 
exclusive privilege. The pilgrim from Central Asia, 
whether travelling in Asia Minor, Arabia, or Egypt, 
is received with marked veneration and respect, and 
is regarded as the very embodiment of every Islamitic 
virtue. The Western Mohammedan, especially the 
Osmanli, deeply wounded by the innovations our civi- 



HEAD QUARTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 187 

lization has introduced into his native country, turns 
to his kinsman and co-religionist from the far East, and 
gazing at him with a look of extreme piety, finds com- 
fort at the aspect of him, who in his eyes stiU repre- 
sents the religion of the Prophet, pure and undefiled. 
Heaving a sigh, he exclaims : " Ha Bokharai Sherif ! " 
(yes, the noble Bokhara), which utterance is meant to 
express his whole mind. 

The diiFerence that exists between Eastern and 
Western Mohammedanism in Asia is indeed a remark- 
able phenomenon, and deserves a closer examination. 
Upon my asking the MoUahs m Bokhara how it hap- 
pened that they were better Mohammedans than the 
people in Mekka and Medina, where Mohammed had 
actually lived and taught, they answered: that "the 
torch, although sending its light mto the far distance, 
is always dark at the foot," — Mekka being meant by 
the foot of the torch, and Bokhara the far distance. 
In an allegorical sense this may be correct, but Euro- 
peans are not silenced by similes of that sort; and, 
since the fact deserves attention, we will endeavour to 
ascertain, first — the essential points of the difference in 
question; and, secondly — the causes for it. Upon 
examining in detail the various points of contrast be- 
tween Eastern and Western Mohammedanism, the 
chief characteristic feature is, no doubt, the wild fana- 
tic obstinacy with which the Mussulman, in the far 
East, clings to every suigle point of the Koran and 
the traditions, looking with terror and aversion, in the 



188 SKETCHES OP CENTEAL ASIA. 

true spirit of the Oriental, upon any innovation ; and, 
in a word, directing all his efforts to the preservation 
of his religion at that precise standard which marked 
its existence in the happy period (Vakti Seadet) of 
the Prophet and the first califs. This standard, how- 
ever, is not sufficiently apparent, since Islamism, in 
those countries, has assumed a form such as a few 
eccentric iaterpreters among the Sunnites desire, but 
which, so far as our knowledge extends, has never 
existed in reality. 

Fanaticism, the chief cause of hypocrisy and impiety, 
has disfigured every religion, so long as mankind, liv- 
ing in the infancy of civilization, has been unable to 
perceive the pure light of the true faith. All nations 
and all countries have given proof of its existence, but 
nowhere does it appear iu such glariag colours, or wear 
such a disgusting aspect, as in the East. Here, reli- 
gion, in order to improve the mind, deals chiefly with 
the body; here, m order to exejcise moral influence, 
the devotee is occupied with physical trifling, and, 
neglecting the inner man, as may be supposed, every 
one strives for outward appearance and effect. In 
Bokhara the prmciple reigns paramount : " Man must 
make a figure, — no one cares for what he thinks." A 
man may be the greatest miscreant, the most repro- 
bate of human creatures; but let him fulfil the out- 
ward duties of religion and he escapes all punishment 
in this as well as in the next world. 

The very popular prayer of the thief Abdurrahman 



HEAD QUARTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 189 

(Duai-duzd Abdurrahman) illustrates most strikingly 
this opinion. It consists of about fifteen to twenty 
sentences, and its substance is as follows : " When the 
Pro]3het (the blessing of God be upon him!) lived in 
Medina, he went one afternoon upon the terrace of his 
house, in order to perform his devotions. He looked 
about with his blessed eyes and saw in his part of the 
town a funeral procession pass through the streets, 
followed only by a few persons, and the coffin sur- 
rounded by a marvellous brilliancy, not unlike a sea 
of rosy light. As soon as he had finished his prayer 
he hastened to the spot, joined the funeral procession, 
and saw, to his great amazement, that the shine did 
not leave the coffin, even when let down into the grave. 
The Prophet could not recover from his surprise; he 
went to the wife of the deceased, and asked what and 
who her husband had been. ' Alas ! ' she answered, 
with tears, 'God be merciful unto him, his death 
is a blessing to all, for throughout his life he was a 
highwayman and murderer; and the tears of widows 
and orphans he has caused to flow, are more than the 
water he has drunk. He lived only to cause unhappi- 
ness to others. I have often remonstrated with him, 
but in vain. He lived as a suiner, and as a sinner he 
died ! ' ' What ! ' exclaimed the Prophet, with ever- 
increasmg astonishment, ' Did he possess no single 
good quality, has he never shown repentance?' 'Alas, 
no!' she sobbed out; 'the only thing he used to do 
every evening after his wicked daily work, was to read 



190 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

over these few lines (and she showed the prayer), and 
then fell asleep, and woke to sm anew on the morrow.' 
The Prophet looked at the prayer, and recognismg at 
once its marvellous efficacy, he has left it behind to 
exercise the same virtue upon all orthodox Mussul- 
men." The moral drawn from this narrative needs 
no explanation 5 and it is easy to imagine how many 
Central Asiatics, furnished with such a recipe, a la 
Tetzel^ will commit the most atrocious deeds, and re- 
tain withal the consciousness of being pious and reli- 
gious men. 

What strikes a European most of all, in seeing this 
principle of outward formulas reduced to practice, are 
the laws of cleanhness, which, in Central Asia, are ob- 
served with strict and scrupulous exactness, although, 
as is well known, the most disgusting filthiness is to 
be met with. By the Mohammedan law the body 
becomes unclean after each evacuation, and requires 
an ablution, according to circumstances, either a small 
(abdest) or a great one (gusl). The same has to be 
observed with resj)ect to the clothes, which are sub- 
jected to a purification if touched by the smallest drop 
of water.* The cleaning of the body is strictly per- 
formed amongst all Mussulmen; nor, on the whole, is 
the law about the clothes lost sight of; but I have 



* In the eyes of Eastern people, dogs and Europeans are classed together, 
as making water against the wall. Thronghout the East people squat down 
during the action, for fear lest in a standing position a drop might touch 
and thus pollute their clothes. 

\ 



HEAD QUARTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 191 

never seen people in the West of Asia, as in Bokhara, 
repeat their prayers stark-naked, from a religious scru- 
ple, that their clothes might have been defiled without 
the eye having detected it. It is extremely ridiculous, 
that in any religion, as is the case in the Mohammedan, 
whole volumes should be written as to the manner in 
which its followers are to cleanse their body after each 
large or small evacuation. The law, for instance, com- 
mands the istindjah (removal), istinkah (ablution), 
and istibra (drying), i.e.^ a small clod of earth is first 
used for the local cleansing, then water, at least tmce, 
and finally a piece of hnen, a yard in length, in order 
to destroy every possible trace. In Turkey, Arabia, 
and Persia, only one of these acts is performed, — the 
istinkah; but in Central Asia all three are considered 
necessary; and m order to prove the high standard of 
their piety, zealous Mohammedans carry three or four 
such clods of earth, cut "vvith a knife that is used for 
no other purpose besides, in their turbans, to have a 
small store at hand. This commandment is often car- 
ried out quite publicly in the bazaars, from a desire to 
make parade of their conscientious piety. I shall never 
forget the revolting scene, when I saw one day a teacher 
give to his pupils, boys and girls, instructions in the 
handling of the clod of earth, linen and so forth, by 
way of experiment. It never occurs to any one that 
such a tenet is disgraceful, nor does any body perceive 
that these extremes of physical cleanliness lead directly 
to the extremes of moral impurity. 



192 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

The extreme severity with which the law of the 
Harem, is executed in Bokhara, is looked for in vain 
among the Western Mohammedans, or even among 
the fanatic sect of the Wahabites. This law, so con- 
trary to nature, has necessarily been the cause of a 
certain vice equally contrary to nature, and which, 
although it exists among Turks, Arabs and Persians, 
is confined within a comparatively narrow hmit, and 
condemned as a "despicable sin" by the interpreters 
of the Koran as well as by public opinion. In Central 
Asia, especially in Bokhara and Khokand, this atro- 
cious crime is carried to a frightful extent, and the 
religious of these countries considering it a protection 
against any transgression of the law of the Harem, 
and declaring it to be no sin, marriages a la Tiberius 
have become quite popular ; nay, fathers feel not the 
smallest compunction in surrendering their sons to a 
friend or acquaintance for a certain annual stipend. 
Our pen refuses to describe this disgusting vice in its 
full extent; but even the few hmts we have thrown 
out are sufiicient to show the abyss of crime to which 
an exaggerated religious fanaticism degrades mankind. 
It is just the same with the prohibition of spirituous 
liquors. The Koran commands not only abstinence 
from wme, but from all intoxicating drmks, for this 
reason, that a state of intoxication ^would be attended 
by neglect of prayer, or of any other pious duty. 
The Western Mohammedans interpret this command- 
ment as referring only to mne (sharab) in the strict 



HEAD QUAKTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 193 

sense of the word, and consider drinking arak (brandy) 
already a much less oifence ; many, indeed, are of 
opinion, that since it has not been expressly mentioned 
m the Koran, it would not be regarded as a sin to 
drink it with water. In Turkey and Persia brandy 
is as much m favour among the better educated 
classes, as wodki in Russia; but in Bokhara both 
brandy and wine are very rarely met mth. Even 
those who do not confess the Mohammedan religion, 
such as Jews and Hindoos, cannot drink it except 
clandestinely, and the mere pronouncing the words 
sharab and arak, is a sin in the eyes of the orthodox. 
With facts like these one would expect the greatest 
sobriety among the people, but alas ! hbw terrible is 
the substitute hypocrisy has mvented ! 

The Central Asiatics make a distinction between 
fluid and solid spirits. The former are strictly for- 
bidden, whilst the latter, by which all narcotics are 
understood, are looked upon as perfectly mnocent. 
The famous opium-eaters of Constantinople, who, at 
the present day almost extmct, were seen daily, at 
the begumhig of the century, m the notorious square 
of Direkalti, and admu'ed by all passers-by — the 
various hashish-eaters in Egypt — the lovers of the 
comparatively harmless teryak in Persia, — all these are 
as nothing in comparison with the bengis* of Central 
Asia. 

* Beng is the name of the poison which is produced from the canabis 
indica. 

13 



194 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

In the first-named countries opium has a rival m 
" pater bacchus," and holds, therefore, a divided em- 
pire; but in Turkestan, where the "jolly god" is a 
stranger, it reigns paramount, and its destroying 
power is fearful. The number of beng-eaters is 
greatest in Bokhara and Khokand, and it is no ex- 
aggeration to say that three-fourths of the learned 
and official world, or, in other words, the whole in- 
teUio-ent class, are victims to this vice. The Govern- 
ment looks on with perfect indifference, while hundreds, 
nay, thousands, commit suicide. It never occurs to 
any one that a prohibition should be made on this sub- 
ject, but if a man were convicted of having tasted a 
drop of wme, he would be beheaded without any 
further ado. 

These errors, together with many others of the 
same kind, must no doubt be ascribed to an eccentric 
scrupulousness m observmg the existmg laws. Strange 
as they are, they appear less surprising when com- 
pared with those views and opinions which arose in 
Eastern Mohammedanism m consequence of a dif- 
ferent mterpretation of those traditional dogmas, 
which are not only rejected as erroneous, but flatly 
condemned by the learned Mohammedans of the West. 
Amonoj these we are struck first of all ^vith the rehgri- 
ous orders or pious fraternities, which are spread in 
an extraordinary mamier over Central Asia, and are 
subject to such strict regulations, and conducted with 
a fervour which contrasts singularly with the character 



HEAD QUARTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM, 195 

of Eastern nations, especially the Central Asiatics. 
In the Western Islamitic countries we meet with the 
various orders of the Oveisi, Kadrie, Djelah, Mevlevi, 
Rufai, Bektashi, &c., which, at all times treated mth 
civility by the Ulemas, were never able to attract 
within their magic circle more than a few mdividuals 
of a heated imagmation; whereas, on the contrary, 
the JSTakishbendi, Makhdumaazami, m Bokhara and 
Khokand, embody large masses of the population, who 
are appointed, guided, and governed by the officers of 
the order, representing the temporary supreme chief. 
Every community, however small in numbers, com- 
prises one or more Ishans (priests of the order) beside 
the lawful MoUah, Reis, &c. ; and I have often felt 
astonished at witnessing the blind obedience and re- 
spect paid to the members of the order as compared 
with the former. It need scarcely be added, that 
these influential Ishans stand frequently m the way of 
the Goverronent, but it has never ventured to offer 
them any check or resistance, regarding, as they do, 
rehgious orders as inseparable from Islam. Moham- 
med expressly stated, "Xa Ruhhanitum jil Islam'''' — ■ 
" no monks in Islam." Nevertheless the Khan, his 
ministers, even many Ulemas, in spite of the latter, 
regarding the Ishan as powerful rivals, and hating 
them accordingly, are in the habit of adopting the 
outward attributes of one or the other order, out of 
deference to pubHc opinion. 

The judicial procedure of Eastern Mohammedans is 



196 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA, 

equally remarkable. They entirely reject the Urf, i.e.^ 
the decision of the judge, based upon his own judg- 
ment and convictions, in cases where the Sheriat (the 
laws of the Koran) is insufficient; as also the Kanun, 
i.e.^ laws framed by later legislators. The latter they 
regard as heretical innovations, and they take the 
Sheriat, or the code of laws emanatmg ft-om the Koran, 
as their sole and infallible guide. That the laws 
Mohammed framed twelve hundred years ago for the 
social wants of the simple Arabs, should not suit 
every clime and epoch, can be no matter of surprise. 
In Turkey and Persia the necessity for reform has 
long been felt. The Governments of these countries 
have tried in all cases to supply the deficiencies of 
their primitive codes by supplemental additions, how- 
ever much the opmions of the Ulemas resisted such 
a step, naturally foreseeing from it, as they did, the 
downfall of their power. In Turkestan, not only the 
Mollahs, but the Government, and everybody in fact, 
is highly mdignant at the very idea of a supplement. 
In their eyes the Koran is "as fine as a hair, as sharp 
as a sword, and satisfies all possible wants of hfe;" 
whoever thought difi^erently would be treated as a 
wicked man and an infidel. People eat, drink and 
dress, m strict conformity with the precepts of the 
Koran ; it is the standing rule, by which all taxes and 
toll-moneys are levied, the standard, by which aU 
wars are conducted, and the guide for directing their 
relations mth foreign powers ! Upon the same prin- 



HEAD QUAETEKS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 197 

ciple, any innovation in domestic life is strictly for- 
bidden as sin. England, Russia, and other modern 
states, of whom the Koran makes no mention, cannot 
be recognised by the Tartar rulers de facto ; on the 
contrary, they consider it their duty to oppose them 
as intruders by the law of the Djihad (the religious 
combat), a pohcy which will, of course, as already 
sufficiently shown, lead them to entire destruction. 

With regard to the Shiitish Persians, the Eastern 
Mohammedans stand in a very different relation to 
them from their Western brethren. This rehgious 
schism, as is well known, has often been the cause of 
long and bloody wars, — under the pretext of a tem- 
porary quarrel. Ever since the first dissensions took 
place between the dynasties Akkoyunlu and Karaka- 
yunlu, Turks and Arabs have ffequently been opposed 
to the Persians in destructive and calamitous wars : 
deep hatred and bitter resentment separated the two 
sects, and the former succeeded in ejecting their 
Shiitish enemies from the bond of Islamism. The 
Persian is looked upon as an heretical Mussulman, 
but always as a Mussulman; he is admitted to the 
holy cities and all places of pilgrimage, the orthodox 
Sunnite does not object to pray with him in the same 
mosque, and in modern times the hatred between the 
Osmanli and Persian has ah-eady so far diminished 
that the latter is permitted by law to intermarry with 
the former. 

In Central Asia there exists no trace of anything of 



198 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

the kind. Here the Persians are hated and persecuted 
as fiercely as on their first appearance among the 
Shiitish sect. In the year 945 of the Hidjra, they 
were declared outlaws and infidels by the fetwah of 
a certain MoUah, Shemseddin Mohammed, a native of 
Samarkand, and hving in Herat at the time of the 
Sultan Husein Baikera. This fetwah has done much 
injury to the poor inhabitants of Iran, for, although 
the marauding Turkomans would have taken them 
prisoners without any form of law, they would not 
have been sold m the market-place of fanatical Bok- 
hara, had not the brand of the Kafir qualified them 
for it, only such men being saleable. Whatever 
cruelties were practised on them, were all committed 
under the pretext of punishing an unbehever, and 
though Eastern Mohammedans try to vmdicate the 
MoUahs of Turkestan, by pomting out that the Per- 
sians recognize one and the same Koran, and one and 
the same prophet, yet they declare the fetwah to be 
just and proper, and protest against all assertions to 
the contrary, of the West- Mohammedan learned men, 
as ignorance and error. 

There are essential distinctions also in the ritual of 
the Eastern and Western Mohammedans. I doubt 
very much whether, even at Bagdad and Damascus, 
during the most brilliant period of Islamism, officers 
(Reis) were daily traversing the streets, stopping 
everybody in the midst of their daily occupations in 
order to hear them the prayer Farz-i-Ayin, and pu- 



HEAD QUARTERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 199 

nishing the ignorant on the spot. This is actually 
being done in Bokhara at the present day. In the 
various ceremonies of circumcision, marriage, and 
burial, the Central Asiatics have several customs of 
their own, entirely heterogeneous to Western Islam; 
their daily prayers, which have to be repeated five 
times, consist here of more Rikats (genuflexions) 
than in other countries ; and it is curious, at the Ezan 
(call to prayer), the Turkestans most carefully avoid 
aU tune or melody, and recite it in a sort of howl. 
The manner in which the Ezan is cried in the West, 
is here declared sinful, and the beautiful, melancholy 
notes, which, in the silent hour of a moonlit- evening, 
are heard from the slender minarets on the Bosphorus, 
fascinating every hearer, would be hstened to by the 
Bockhariot with feelings only of detestation. 

In addition to the above let us bear in mind the 
many mosques, medressas, all filled to overflowing 
with worshippers, the Karikhane, i.e. houses, where 
blind men recite the Koran the whole day long, the 
numerous Khanka, where fanatics roar out their Zikr 
day and night, and with which institutions every city 
is crowded; then let us picture to ourselves the 
various gestures, the severely earnest looks and the 
whole appearance of the MoUahs, Ishane, Dervishes, 
Kalenters, and ascetics, one of wild fanaticism, and it 
might perhaps be possible to form an idea of Bokhara, 
of this pillar of Islam, these headquarters of an over- 
strained religious zeal, and where the religion of the 



200 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. 

Arab Prophet has degenerated into a form, such as 
the founder no doubt never wished his work should 
assume. From here it has spread with the same ten- 
dencies over Affghanistan to India, Kashmir, and the 
Chinese Tartary, and northwards as far as Kazan. In 
all these places the spirit of Bokhara has taken firm 
root, for Bokhara is their teacher, and neither Con- 
stantinople nor Mekka, but Bokhara is looked up to as 
their sole guide. It is here that our civilization will 
encounter more serious obstacles than in Western 
Asia, and Russia most hkely has already made this 
experience with respect to the Nogai Tartars. It would 
be a matter of regret, if the English Government 
should not as yet have felt this to be the truth with 
her 40 millions of Mohammedan subjects in India. 
The consequences would be sure and inevitable. 

So much at present for the difference between 
Eastern and Western Mohammedanism, and without 
much research we shall find the principal causes to be 
as follows : 

Firstly, Asia, the chief seat and fountain-head of 
religious fanaticism, is found, the more we advance 
eastward, the more true to its ancient type. As in 
general the inhabitants of India, Thibet, and China 
are more eccentric, more rehgiously fanatical, or, in 
other words, more Asiatic, than the followers of Islam, 
in the same measure the Eastern Mohammedans are 
more zealous than their Western co-religionists. 

Secondly, the same eccenti^c fanaticism, which the 



HEAD QUAETERS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 201 

Central Asiatics displayed when professing the doc- 
trines of Zoroaster, has been the cause why their 
conversion to Islam cost the Arabs so much time and 
trouble. It took more than 200 years, before the re- 
ligion of Mohammed had completely supplanted the 
old faith. No sooner had the conquerors left a town 
than the newly-converted inhabitants returned to 
their old faith, and the town had to be re-conquered 
and re-cohverted. But when the iron perseverance 
of the Arabs had at last succeeded in making them 
Mohammedans, they attached themselves to the new 
rehgion Avith the same fervour they had manifested in 
the old. As early as the begmning of the rule of the 
Samanides, we find in Transoxania men of high 
reputation, throughout Islam, for their learnmg and 
their exemplary piety. Belkh had already then ac- 
quired the name of Kubbetiil Islam, the dome of 
Islam. The city and neighbourhood of Bokhara were 
crowded with the tombs of saints and learned men, 
and we can easily understand how it happened that 
these Turkestani cities had in piety and learning 
become successful rivals of Bagdad, the then centre 
of the Mohammedan world, where devotional zeal 
was eclipsed by the splendour of worldly grandeur. 
After the extinction of the dynasty of the Sam- 
anides, but especially during the Mongol conquests, no 
doubt all rehgious life suffered a temporary check, 
but the edifice has never been shaken to its founda- 
tions as in Bagdad, where Helagu, in destroying the 



202 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

phantom caliphate of Motasimbillah, broke the chief 
strength of Islam and scattered it to the winds. In 
Transoxania, on the other hand, its energies were 
being silently strengthened and matured. Timur 
aimed at making his native home the chief seat of 
Mohammedan learning, and his work was continued, 
though in a different spirit, by the rulers of the 
Sheibani dynasty. It can therefore excite no wonder 
that Bokhara has been able to preserve to the present 
day, that precise standard of religious asceticism 
which characterized Islam in the middle ages. 

Thirdly, the great body of the Sunnites has been 
separated by the schism of Persia practically, if not 
morally, into two distinct parts, and the separation is 
certain to continue. The pilgrimages to the holy 
cities of Arabia have by no means compensated for 
the undoubtedly greater intercourse, which, in the 
times of the cahphat, could be carried on without 
fear of disturbance from the Eastern to the Western 
frontier of Islam. Sectarian animosity has been pur- 
posely kept alive, and has rendered Persia a danger- 
ous country to any Sunnitish traveller. Whilst great 
political changes, as well as constant intercourse with 
Christian Europe, combined to bring the Western 
Sunnites under the influence of foreign social rela- 
tions, the Eastern Sunnites, left entirely to themselves, 
had no opportunity offered them of introducing either 
changes or reforms. They looked with quite as much 
abhorrence as the Chinese and 'Hindoos upon heretical 



HEAD QUAETEKS OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 203 

Persia, the only country which afforded them the means 
of communication mth the West. 

The observation which I have offered, that the in- 
fluences of European Christianity have divided western 
from eastern Islam in many cardinal aspects of faith, 
may lead many of our readers to hope, that the ever- 
increasmo- communication and mterchano-e of ideas 
will gradually effect a total transformation in Asia, or, 
as many sanguine travellers of modern times believe, 
that Asia will be Europeanised. 

The question is naturally one of mterest to every 
one who wishes (and who does not wish it) for an 
improvement of the social relations in Asia, and far 
too important for a mere passing examination. Never- 
theless, in order to obviate certain mismterpretations 
or false constructions, we must remark, that the above 
observation is not to be reg-arded as offerina; an in- 
falhble test of Western Mohammedan advancement. 
We have to be careful, not to mistake for precious 
metal the tmsel of European civihsation and modes of 
thought, with which Young Turkey and Persia en- 
deavour to garnish their uinate barbarism. I must 
confess the result of European influence in these 
countries is hitherto alas ! very small and ineffectual. 
The mexperienced eye of a tourist is deceived by their 
having partly adopted our dress and furniture, but all 
else is now just as it was in olden times, and wiU pro- 
bably continue so for a very long time to come. 

It is taken for granted that our relations, as Euro- 



204 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

peans with Asia, are those, as it were, between a son 
and his mother, the latter possessing a certain amount 
of superstition, with which she finds it difficult to part. 
From Asia we received our descent, mentally and 
materially, as well as our education, but nobody 
would reproach us with ingratitude or want of respect, 
if we reject the views and opinions of "our aged 
parent," and for her own benefit occasionally press upon 
her our ideas instead. I use purposely the expression 
"press upon," for whatever has been adopted of 
European civilisation in Asia up to the present day, 
has not been the result, either of conviction or a 
liking for our social relations, but simply that of fear. 
A forced love never lasts, and were we to base our 
speculations as to the future of the whole of Asia upon 
the changes hitherto effected in Western Asia, they 
would mevitably prove fallacious. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

THE SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE IN 
CENTRAL ASIA. 

The last cannon-sliot fired by the victorious champions 
of the Union agamst their seceding brethren, although 
it has not entirely put an end to the slave trade in the 
Western hemisphere, has nevertheless dealt it a very 
severe blow. The flao; of Great Britain in the waters 
of Eastern Africa and the recent conquest of the whole 
Caucasus by the Russians have, to a great extent, crip- 
pled the same abominable traffic among the Moham- 
medans of Western Asia. The indolent, enervated 
Orientals may still regard with bitter resentment and 
rancour the efforts of Europe in the cause of humanity ; 
but the sale and purchase of human beings is every- 
where practised with a certam reserve arising from a 
sense of shame, or, to speak more correctly, of fear of 
European eyes. This trade is now to be found un- 
fettered and unembarrassed only m Central Asia. 
Here, in the ancient seat of Asiatic barbarism and 
ferocity, thousands every year fall victims to this in- 
human trade. These victims are not negroes, occupy- 
ing the lowest place in the human race, but belong to 



206 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

a nation celebrated now, as of old, for its culture and 
civilisation. These not only exchange freedom for 
slavery, but at the same time the comforts of com- 
parative civilisation for the miseries of semi-savage 
life, and are torn from their smihng homes to pine 
away in the desert. The lot of such captives is even 
harder than that of the negro. Inasmuch as to this 
day Europeans have had very httle information with 
respect to the miserable state of things which prevails 
in the distant regions of Central Asia, it may not be 
out of place if I here recount my own experiences of 
them somewhat m detail. 

What the Portuguese slave traders and the Arabian 
ivory merchants are in Central Africa, that are the 
Turkomans in the north-eastern and north-western 
portions of Iran, indeed we may say in all Persia. 
Wherever nomad tribes hve in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood of a civilised country, there will robbery 
and slavery unavoidably exist to a greater or less 
extent. The poverty-stricken children of the desert 
are endowed by nature with an insatiable lust for ad- 
venture, and frames capable of supporting the most 
terrible privations and fatigues. What the scanty soil 
of their native wilderness denies them, they seek in 
the lands of their more favoured neighbours. The 
intercourse between them, however, is seldom of a 
friendly character. As the plundered and hardly 
used agriculturist cannot, and dare not, pursue the 
well-mounted nomad across the pathless deserts of 



SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 207 

sand, the latter, protected by the nature of the country, 
can carry on his career of plunder and rapuie without 
fear of chastisement. In former times the cities on 
the borders of the Great Sahara and of the Arabian 
desert were in the same plight. Even at the present 
day the caravans m the latter country are exposed to 
the greatest dangers. But Persia has to suffer from 
these evils to a still greater extent, as the deserts 
which form her northern boundary are the most ex- 
tensive and the most savage in the world, while their 
mhabitants are the most cruel and least civilised of 
nomads. 

The wars of hoary antiquity between the Iranians 
and Turanians, sung by the master singer of the Shah 
Nameh, " the Book of the Kings," seem to have had 
their origin in acts of violence perpetrated by the 
latter. It is true that the combatants of that period 
are represented in the poem as belonging to one and 
the same race, but we find that at the period of the 
expedition of Alexander the people of northern Iran 
called on the great Macedonian to afford them protec- 
tion agamst their northern neighbours, whom they 
described as terrible beings of uihuman aspect — pro- 
bably they were of the true Mongolian type, which 
differs widely from that of the Iranians. Alexander 
built a great wall from the Caspian Sea to the Kur- 
distan mountams. This uxmaense work, however, did 
not come up to the expectations of its founder. Like 
tlie Great Wall of Chma, built for a similar purpose, 



208 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

it could not permanently keep out the barbarians. 
Their impetuous fury burst through such feeble ob- 
stacles, and nothing could check their devastating 
incursions except the energetic rule of some excep- 
tionally vigorous sovereign, who instead of protectmg 
his subjects by a stone wall, did so with a well-dis- 
ciplined army. This is the case at the present day. 
The Turkomans and CEzbegs dn^ect their forays ac- 
cordmg to the peaceful or disturbed state of the 
adjacent provhices, or the energy or indolence of their 
respective governors. During the disorders which 
attended the establishment of the Kadjarish dynasty, 
individual bands of Yomut Turkomans pushed their 
predatory incursions as far as the neighbourhood of 
Ispahan, although the greater number of them were 
servmg mider the bamier of Aga Mohammed Khan. 
At the same period the Tekkes pressed forward on 
the north-east as far as Seistan. At the present day 
it is the two provinces of Khorassan and Mazenderan 
which suffer most. The Turkomans first of all m- 
quire into the character and administration of a newly 
appomted governor, and if they find m him signs of 
cowardice or neglect of duty (which is often the case), 
they make repeated incursions with terrible speed on 
the defenceless provmce committed to his care. On 
the other hand, they hardly dare to show themselves 
m those places where a vigorous and active officer is 
at the head of affairs. At the time of my journey 
through Khorassan the roads were so safe that tra- 



SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 209 

vellers could otq alone throuo:h districts which were 
formerly so fraught with danger, that the largest and 
best appointed caravans could pass there only when 
accompanied by a body of troops and a battery of 
cannon. At that time the governor, Sultan Murad 
Mirza, kept the nomads in check. Every move- 
ment of theu^s was reported to him by his spies, and, 
as soon as they showed themselves, they were attacked 
m their own haunts, and received severe punishment. 
In Astrabad, on the contrary, where a fool was en- 
trusted with the admmistration, the neighbourhood 
was so unsafe that the Yomuts carried off Persians 
captive from the very gates of the town. 

There are several tribes of Turkomans both on the 
edge and in the interior of the desert, who consider 
the robbery of human beings so indispensable a means 
of livelihood as to deem their existence in the steppes 
impossible, if they were to be deprived of this produc- 
tive source of wealth. As other nations talk about 
"the prospects of a good harvest," so they talk about 
"the prospects of open roads to Iran." The time 
which elsewhere is employed in ploughing, irrigat- 
ing, and sowing the fields, is spent by them m train- 
ing their horses, burnishing their arms, and m mock 
combats. Custom has raised their detestable occupa- 
tion to the rank of a recoo-nised trade. It is looked 

o 

upon as a Djihad, or rehgious war, against the Shiite 
schismatics, who are declared to be no better than 
infidels. As the heroes set out on their adventure 

U 



210 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

they are publicly dismissed with the blessmgs of the 
ministers of their religion ; and in case of any one of 
them paying with his hfe for his enormities (which 
very seldom occurs), he is at home declared to be a 
martyr, a mound of earth adorned with flags is heaped 
over his remains, which are seldom left in the hands 
of the enemies, and the devout make pilgrimages to 
the holy place, where they implore with tears of con- 
trition the intercession of the canonised robber. 

The terrible extent to which the most exposed pro- 
vinces suffer from these excursions is explained by the 
courage and resolution of the Turkomans. No war, 
no devastation caused by the elements, can be com- 
pared to the misery which their depredations occasion. 
Not oidy is all trade and commerce on the highways 
crippled, but even the husbandman must provide him- 
self with a tower in which he can take refuge, when 
suddenly attacked by them during his labours in the 
fields. The smallest village is surrounded by a wall. 
Even these measures do not suffice, for the robbers 
often come in large bands and lay siege to such for- 
tified places, and not seldom carry the whole popula- 
tion, men, women, and children, into captivity with 
all their moveable property. I have seen in Eastern 
Khorassan villages whose inhabitants, although in the 
immediate vicinity of large forests, pass the winter 
without fires, because none dare venture out to cut 
wood beyond the walls. Others suffer hunger, as 
their water-mills are outside the village. Travelling 



SLAVE TEADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 211 

is, of course, regarded as a most desperate venture, 
which no one undertakes save in cases of the most 
urgent necessity, or under the protection of an armed 
force. 

The readers of my book on Central Asia will have 
ah'eady formed some idea how far this fear of captivity 
among the Turkomans is well-founded. The lot of 
the negro, confined in the close hold of a ship during 
his passage from Africa to America, is sufficiently 
hard, yet it is not less hard to be bound behind the 
saddle of a nomad with the feet tied under the belly 
of the horse, to be insufficiently supplied with food 
and water, and to be thus transported for days across 
the weary desert, far from one's dear country and the 
bosom of one's family. These privations of savage 
life in the tent of the rude nomad and under an in- 
clement sky are the harder for the Persian to bear, as 
at home he is accustomed to cooked food and the com- 
forts of civilised life. In addition to these sufferings 
he is loaded mth heavy chains, which are not removed 
by night or by day. He is contmually the object of 
the revihngs, curses, and blows of his tyrannical 
master. Indeed the first stage of his slavery is the 
m.ost grievous. 

At the present day the occupation of stealing men 
is followed by the (Ezbegs and Turkomans alone. Of 
the first race the inhabitants of Khiva are to be espe- 
cially noticed, but they only follow it when in the 
course of their hostilities with the Turkomans they 



212 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

ar« driven towards the frontiers of Iran. The Bok- 
hariots have not apjDroached those frontiers since the 
commencement of this century, and the mhabitants of 
Khokand may be said to have never come in contact 
with them. Of the Turkomans, the Tekkes and the 
Yomuts are most addicted to this traffic; the first 
seekmg their victims m Khorassan, Herat, and Seistan, 
and even along the western frontier of Afghanistan; 
the latter along the southern shores of the Caspian 
Sea. After these the Salors and the Sariks are to be 
mentioned, who, broken m power and diminished in 
numbers, seldom, but then with so much the greater 
fury, make their incursions. The Aliehs and Karas 
can only now and then get hold of a caravan of 
Hmdus, Tadjiks, or even Afghans, and these only on 
the road to Bokhara. The Tchaudors, who dwell be- 
tween the lower part of the course of the Oxus and 
the Caspian Sea, since the Russians are no more 
marketable, nor mdeed easy to catch, have scarcely 
any field left them for exercising their man-stealing 
propensities. 

The majority of the slaves in Central Asia are 
Shiite Persians, more especially from the provinces 
mentioned above, though many from the remaining 
provinces are also captured, either in war or during 
their pilgrimage to Meshed. Besides them there are 
Smniite Persians from Khaf and Herat; the last are 
generally caught while cultivating their fields, or 
while gathermg the pistachio nuts. Djemshidis and 



SLAVE TEADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 213 

Hezares, who fall victims to their mutual feuds, are 
less often to be met with, and still smaller is the 
number of Afghans and Hindus. Nay, Osmanhs and 
Arabs, ia spite of the high esteem in which they are 
held, are sold as slaves, but, as far as I know, there 
are not more than four or six of them. Jews alone, 
who have the reputation of bemg sorcerers, are re- 
garded with too much horror by the mhabitants of 
Turkestan to be a marketable commodity. 

It is difficult to estimate the number thus carried 
year by year mto captivity, because, as I have ex- 
plamed above, it varies according to the state of things 
in Persia. Nor is it easier to estimate the number of 
those at present living in slavery in Turkestan. Not 
all persons who fall into the hands of the Turkomans 
are sent to the Khanats for sale. Taking into con- 
sideration the distribution of property in Iran, we may 
reckon that about one-third of those captured in Ma- 
zenderan and along the shores of the Caspian are 
ransomed. This is a clear gain to the nomad robber, 
as he, in the first place, saves the expense of keepmg 
his merchandise for a long time on hand; in the 
second place, he is not exposed to the risk of the 
market, for should his captive prove physically de- 
ficient in some important respect, he will not be able 
to sell him at aU. Still, however, the proportion of 
those who are thus ransomed is not everywhere the 
same. The greater part of those who fall into the 
hands of the robbers are poor men, who are most ex- 



214 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

posed to this danger during their work out in the 

fields. These, of course, can rarely be ransomed. 

But if, in the case of those who are captured in 

Mazenderan, we may estimate those who are ransomed 

at a third, we cannot assume the same of those who 

are seized in the much poorer provinces of Khorassan 

and Seistan. I have heard, out of the mouth of a 

slave dealer who had grown grey in his trade, that 

from these districts scarcely a tenth part are ransomed, 

the remaining nine-tenths being forwarded for sale in 

the markets of the Khanats. The Turkoman never 

retains a slave for his own use, except ( 1 ) when his 

captive is old or crippled, and yet not so much so but 

that he works enough to earn his meagre sustenance ; 

if he cannot, he is at once mercilessly cut down; (2) 

infants who are brought up as Turkomans to become 

the wildest of robbers; (3) when Cupid makes some 

pretty brunette of an Iranian so dear to him that he 

cannot make up his mind to part with her. This last 

case, however, happens but seldom, as the Turkomans 

are notoriously the greatest misers in the world. As, 

besides, they are wanting in that feeling of delicacy 

for which the Circassian Huri-dealers are so renowned, 

the harems of Khiva and Bokhara receive many flowers 

which have lost their freshness in Turkoman hands. 

The only Persians who are to be found among the 

inhabitants of the steppes are such as m their own 

country would not be much better off, or else escaped 

criminals who have to continue their former courses 



SLAVE TEADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 215 

of misdoing, of murder and robbery, in conjunction 
with the nomads. 

It is the ordinary practice of the men-stealers to 
keep their booty by them not longer than two or three 
days. They are by that time transferred to the slave 
broker, who by way of advance has already furnished 
the robbers with money or provisions. These con- 
scienceless usurers derive the largest profit from the 
abominable traffic, for the robbers are for the most 
part dissolute characters, who, contrary to the usual 
practice of the nomads, gamble away, or squander in 
vicious enjoyments, then' money as soon as they get 
it. Slave brokers are of two kinds. (1) Turkomans, 
who carry on the commerce which exists between the 
mhabitants of the steppes and the Khanats. They 
wait until they have got together thirty, forty, or fifty 
slaves, and then travel in a caravan to Khiva or Bok- 
hara. In the meantime then' human merchandise are 
let out for hire as day labourers, in order to lighten 
the expense of their maintenance. (2) Sunnite inha- 
bitants of the Persian frontier. These men play a 
very curious and ambiguous role^ and are the most de- 
testable of all engaged in the whole business. On the 
one side they serve the Persians as go-betweens, em- 
ployed to find out such persons as are kept in slavery 
in the steppes or in the Khanats; on the other they 
are the most useful spies of the nomads, whom they 
furnish with the best intelligence about a village or a 
caravan. Many, especially such as live on the eastern 



216 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

frontier of Persia, have buildings for the reception of 
slaves in Herat, Maymene, and Bokhara, and just as 
once in the year they lead to the market a string of 
miserable slaves of both sexes, so on their return they 
bring back with them a number of captives redeemed 
through their mediation. From the family of one of 
these unfortunate creatures, they take regularly three 
times the ordinary amount of the ransom, and talk 
largely about the difficulty of finding him, and of per- 
suadmg his captor to accept of the money, while all 
along they know the very place where he is, and have 
probably already spoken about the price. It is amus- 
ing to observe how these scamps change their senti- 
ments, their rehgion, and pohtical opinions, accordmg 
to circumstances. On their way to Bokhara, while 
playing the part of slave holders, they act the zealous 
Bokhariot, abuse the heretical Shiites, and exult in the 
just measure dealt out to the Persian slaves. On their 
return to Iran, when playing the part of slave ransom- 
ers, they are loud in their abuse of the brutahty and 
cruelty of the Bokhariots, shed bitter tears over the 
misfortunes of the poor Persians, and are, in one word, 
the softest-hearted creatures m the world. 

In the caravan in which I myself travelled from 
Bokhara to Herat, there were two such slave brokers, 
who came from Khaf and Kain. Both of them bore 
the title of Khodja, or descendant of the prophet, of 
which they were not a little proud. The tenderness 
and care with which they treated the liberated slaves 



SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 217 

in their charge was almost unexampled. Yet these 
very men, as the leader of the caravan assured me, 
had only a few months before led a train of miserable 
captives mto slavery. In the Khanats of Khiva and 
Bokhara the slave dealers, called there Dogmafurush, 
form a regularly organised guild. It is remarkable 
that as regards their nationahty they are for the most 
part Sarts, Tadjiks, and emancipated Persians, and not 
so often Q^^zbegs or of any other tribe belongmg to the 
Turko- Tartaric race. The sale takes place either in 
the dealers' magazines, or in some market-place outside 
the to^vn, to which place the goods are removed some 
days previous. The most important depots are to be 
found in the Khanat of Khiva, first of all at the capital, 
then in Hezaresp, in Gazavat, in Gorlen, and in Kohne. 
Besides these, every place of any pretensions has a re- 
tail dealer, who is in connection with the large whole- 
sale dealers, or sells goods on commission. In Bokhara 
is to be mentioned first 'of all Karakul, and next the 
capital; besides these, Karshi and Tchihardjuy. It is 
to ba observed that, eastward from Samarcand, this 
abominable trafiic declines more and more, so that in 
the Khanat of Khokand there are no large slave deal- 
ers, and the majority of the slaves to be found there 
are bought in the territory of Bokhara. In the steppes 
lying to the north of the Khanats, thanks to the spread 
of Russian sway, slaves are only found as articles of 
luxury in the houses of the rich begs. 

The price of slaves in the markets of Central Asia, 



218 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

like that of every commodity, varies according to the 
quantity at any one time on sale, which in time of 
peace is less, in time of war greater. The difference 
of price in male slaves of the same age depends for the 
most part on their physical condition and their nation- 
ality. The Turks of northern Persia are most pre- 
ferred ; first, because they sooner learn to make them- 
selves understood in the Turkish dialects of Central 
Asia, which are akin to their own; secondly, because 
they have robuster frames and are more accustomed 
to hard work than the other mhabitants of Iran. The 
Afghans fetch the lowest j)rice, not only because they 
have the greatest dislike to hard work, but also on 
account of theii' "sdndictive and revengeful character, 
which m the case of a brutal master may lead to un- 
pleasant consequences. As for the female slaves, they 
do not by any means enjoy the position which is occu- 
pied by the daughters of Circassia and Georgia m the 
harems of Tui-key and Persia. On the contrary, their 
position is rather to be compared with that of the ne- 
gresses in those countries. It is very easy to explain 
why. In the first place, the daughters of Turkestan 
correspond better to the ideas of beauty entertamed 
by QEzbegs and Tadjiks than the Iranian women, who 
with their olive complexions and large noses, would 
never bear off the apple of Paris from the fair, full- 
cheeked (Ezbeg women. In the second place, hi con- 
sequence of then* poverty the inliabitants of Central 
Asia do not mdulge m potygamy to such an extent as 



SLAVE TKADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 219 

the Mohammedans of the West. Besides this, the 
(Ezbeg has generally too much aristocratic pride to 
share his bed and board with a slave, whom he has 
bought for money. In Bokhara it is true that we find 
mstances to the contrary, but that is only among the 
high functionaries of state, and even they only take 
such women as have been brought as children mto the 
country. In the middle classes such mesalliances are 
very rare phenomena. Besides, marriage is much 
easier here than in other Mohammedan countries. 
Hence female slaves are kept only as articles of luxury 
in the harems of the great, or as domestic servants. 

As regards male slaves the case is quite different. 
This yearly contingent of human arms has become for 
centuries necessary to the support of the Q^zbegs, who 
have a horror of steady agricultural labour. Indeed 
without their slaves they could hardly obtain from the 
ground enough to support Hfe. The truth of this as- 
sertion is shown by the fact, that the price of cereals 
m the Central Asiatic markets is deternuned not simply 
by the rise and fall of the waters of the Oxus, but also 
by the greater or smaller number of slaves sold durmg 
the year. The use to which slaves are applied is prm- 
cipally agriculture, and m the next place care of cattle ; 
and the larger the estate of an QEzbeg landlord, the 
larger the number of slaves which he requires. In a 
land hke Turkestan, where the mihtary element pre- 
ponderates, and every free man, either from instinct or 
from pohtical necessity, lays hold of the sword rather 



220 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

than the plough-tail, it is necessary that the arms, thus 
subtracted from profitable labour and employed in 
murder and devastation, should be replaced by others 
accustomed to labour. That this is so, is best shown 
by the fact, that in those districts m which the popu- 
lation are most addicted to war and robbery, there the 
number of slaves is greatest. In this respect Khiva 
stands first of the three Khanats, Bokhara second, and 
Khokand third. In Khiva the greater part of the 
population is (Ezbeg, and, as they are surrounded on 
all sides by nomad tribes, they are contuiually engaged 
in war, and anarchy prevails among them more often 
than in the two other Khanats. In Bokhara, where 
the population is strongly mixed with peaceable 
Tadjiks, things have been rendered more stable by an 
older estabhshed and better organised government. In 
Khokand, which also contains many Tadjiks, wars are 
infrequent, owing to the notorious cowardice of its in- 
habitants, and when they do occur they are by no 
means so destructive in their character. 

A small proportion of the slaves are employed as 
private servants by the government officials (Sipahi) 
as also by the sovereigns themselves. For such pur- 
poses, however, only such are used as were brought 
in their earliest youth to Central Asia. These receive 
a thoroughly CEzbeg education, and beyond the oppro- 
brious title of kill (slave), bear few traces of the servile 
condition. Like the Circassian slaves m Turkey, they 
often attain the highest posts in the administration, as 



SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 221 

their innate Iranian quick-sightedness enables them to 
supplant their OEzbeg competitors. Thus, many who 
have now under their rule whole provinces, were brought 
into the Khanat as slaves. In Bokhara, where the 
(Ezheg aristocratic is of little moment by the side of 
the predominant Persian element, the sovereigns often 
take slaves for their lawful wives. Such was* the 
mother of the present Emir, such is one of his wives, 
both of them of Iranian orio;in. 

In the purchase of a male slave the first point looked 
to is a strong and Robust physical frame, but his value 
is increased if it be found out later that he has a good 
character. The seller must eno;ao;e himself to take 
him back during the first three days in case any hidden 
physical defect be found out ; for, although the buyer 
at the time of sale examines him carefuUy all over like 
a beast of burden, makes him show the strength of 
his arms, chest, back, and voice, he is still obliged to 
be on his guard against the tricks of the broker. For 
instance, it is very difficult to ascertain the age of such 
a Persian slave. As is the custom in Iran, the Turko- 
mans also dye the beards of their captives if they have 
any grey hairs. It is thus possible to make a mistake 
of twenty, nay, even of thirty years, and it sometimes 
happens that a slave who, when bought, had a fresh, 
youthful appearance, and a coal black beard, a few 
days afterwards turns out to be a grey-haired old man. 
It is easier to practice such tricks, as the slave, subdued 
by fear and harsh treatment, does not dare to make 



222 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

the least objection to any assertion of his Turkoman 
master. This is especially the case with slaves who 
belong to the Sunnite sect. As they profess the reli- 
gion of the Central Asiatic, they are not allowed to be 
made slaves of by the commandments of their religion ; 
but in consequence of the threats of the dealer they 
deny theu' own faith. The Central Asiatic, when he 
sees an Afghan or a Herati for sale, knows that he 
has been compelled to renounce his faith, yet with dis- 
graceful hypocrisy considers it no sin to buy him and 
keep him as a slave. I have myself seen in Khiva and 
Bokhara, even in houses of Mollahs of great renown 
for learning and piety, Sunnite slaves, and when I 
called them to account for conduct so inconsistent with 
their profession, they answered, " At the time I bought 
him he was a Shiite ; that he is now a Sunnite is to be 
attributed to the influence of the sacred soil of Turk- 
estan." Thus is rehgion employed to cheat religion. 

If we now pass on from the details of the slave 
trade to consider the condition of the slave, we shall 
find that the hardest time for him to bear is when he 
is first captured and trained by the Turkoman or the 
broker ; when the Iranian, justly proud of his superior 
civilisation, is treated Hke one of the lower animals by 
the coarse and brutal Turanian, whose very name is 
in Iran held in derision. The Persian is from his 
childhood accustomed to the most refined politeness, 
and to a flowery, elegant conversation; and must of 
course sufler mentally a great deal when first intro- 



SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 223 

duced to the savage manners and habits of Turkestan. 
His physical suffermgs are by no means so great. 
The majority of them, destined for agricultural labour, 
generally gain the confidence and affection of their 
master by their good behavior. If a slave has during 
a year not incurred punishment, he is soon looked 
upon as a member of the new family. Indeed, many 
receive, after a certam time, either monthly wages, or 
else a share of the produce of the land or cattle com- 
mitted to then' care. As the Iranian is in general 
more active and frugal than his Turanian neighbour, 
the slaves in Turkestan, in a remarkably short time, 
get together a little capital. This is employed by 
most of them in ransoming themselves from slavery, 
which they have the right to do after seven years' 
service. This term is occasionally shortened as a 
reward for peculiar diligence, or from great good 
nature on the part of the master; and the slave is 
surprized by an azad (letter of freedom), in the same 
way that we make a present to a faithful servant. 
Such a document is confirmed by the kadi and the 
temporal magistrate, and he who is in possession of it 
becomes at once master of his own actions. The act 
of emancipation is everywhere accompanied by certain 
solemnities. Sheep are slaughtered, guests invited; 
the freedman embraces one after the other the male 
members of his master's family; and after he has 
taken his place upon the same piece of felt carpet as 



224 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

his master, his freedom is proclaimed. Among the 
Kirghiz it is the custom for the master on such oc- 
casions to fasten a white bone to the girdle of the 
freedman, which denotes that the latter is raised from 
the ranks of the " black -boned " (subject people) to 
that of the "white-boned" (nobility). 

So much for good-tempered and obedient slaves. 
Where the contrary qualities show themselves, (Ezbeg 
barbarity and cruelty make themselves felt in all their 
force. It is enough to make one's hair stand on 
end to read the list of punishments used to compel a 
refractory slave to obedience. The master has legal 
right of life and death over his slave. It very seldom 
happens, however, that he actually kills him, as he 
thereby loses the whole of his purchase money; but 
the miseries which he inflicts on him are worse than 
death itself. Many are kept for years together on 
mere bread and water in the midst of the lonely 
deserts; others, a few days before their seven years 
have expired, are sold agam — not, however, in the 
Khanats, where, their character being already known, 
they would be unsaleable. In such cases of impo- 
sition the victim is generally a Kirghiz, unversed in 
the tricks of the slave trade. Thus the Persian passes 
from the city into the northern desert, whence, even 
if emancipated, he seldom, if ever, returns home. 

It is certainly striking that, out of the large num- 
ber of slaves of Persian origin who are continually 



SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 225 

brought into Central Asia, only half of those who 
obtain their freedom go back to their native country. 
Such as do return are mduced to do so either by the 
necessity of setting their family affairs in order, or by 
extraordinary home-sickness. He who has hved 
eighteen years in Turkestan will seldom change it for 
Iran. The slaves, as observed before, are for the 
most part originally poor ; and when they have secured 
in Turkestan a certain means of gaining their liveli- 
hood, or have got together some property, they m few 
cases think of returning to their native land, where, 
on account of general habits of industry and activity, 
existence is much harder to support; where the 
necessaries of life are more expensive, and the luxury 
and splendour of the wealthy excite many migratified 
desires in the breasts of the poor, which are not 
aroused in the midst of the barbarous simplicity of 
the Khanats. Still, it is to be observed that the 
emancipated slave can never get rid of the disgrace 
imphed in the word hid (slave), however great may 
be the wealth he may have accumulated, or however 
high the post to which he may be promoted. Although 
he may be living in the utmost splendour and magni- 
ficence, the kul can never hope to obtain the hand of 
a free (Ezbeg, the poorest of whom would reject his 
proposals with scorn. I know an mstance in which 
an (Ezbeg refused his daughter to a freedman, although 
the latter' s suit was backed by the command of the 
khan; he preferred rather to encounter the anger of 

15 



226 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

his sovereign than to call one who had once been a 
slave his son-in-law. Even the khanezads* (children 
of slaves), who are not allowed to be sold, are treated 
in the same manner, and can only marry the daughters 
of other emancipated slaves, or sarts. Only in the 
fourth generation is the disgrace attached to the word 
hul somewhat softened down, but by no means quite 
obliterated. In a country like Central Asia, in which 
courage is looked upon as the highest virtue, the slave 
is regarded as the ne plus ultra — a man who, for want 
of a contempt of death, allows himself to be put m 
chams; and it is this vice which is so difficult to be 
forgiven. This way of looking at the subject is further 
strengthened by the boundless feeling of aristocracy 
which distinguishes ih^ Tartars, whether settled or 
nomad, in which not even the wildest Tories or the 
proudest marquis of the Faubourg St. Germain can 
surpass them — a feehng which is entertained not only 
against the foreign Iranian, but even the native Tad- 
jiks, the eldest inhabitants of the land. 

It will be understood that it is only the moral stigma 
of slavery which the freedman has to suffer from. In 
his civil rights he is as well protected as any one else. 
Thus, as the Oriental is even more a creature of habit 
than we are, I found it very easy to understand how 
the Persian soon finds himself completely at home in 
Turkestan, which country he once so despised and 

* The sale of a khanezad is regarded as a disgraceful action, and one who 
commits such an act is branded as a thief and a robber. 



SLAVE TEADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 227 

dreaded, and dwells contentedly in a foreign land, only 
occasionally solacing himself with a visit to his rela- 
tions or to the shrine of some Shiite saint in Iran. 

Unfortunately, it is the material comfort and pros- 
perity of the slave which the Central Asiatic, like other 
Mohammedans, alleges in his defence, when we express 
our abhorrence of the disgraceful traffic in human 
beings. As in Turkestan, so in Turkey we may often 
hear this argument : — " The sons and daughters of the 
wild Circassians were in their native land poor people, 
who in their free mountains could hardly get bread 
enough to eat ; here with us they become rich govern- 
ment officials, pashas, nay, even pruicesses, whose 
powerful influence affects the pohcy of government." 
They farther point out how kiudly the slaves are treated 
in the houses of persons of distinction, where they are 
put on the same footing as the members of the family. 
But they forget that these cases are exceptional, and 
that such good fortune depends for the most part on 
the personal beauty of the favoured few. What be- 
comes of the greater number, whose charms are not 
such as to gain the favour of their master? What shall 
we say of this majority, exposed as they are to the op- 
pression and cruelty of a tyrannical master, and con- 
stantly employed in the hardest labour? 

Such things are of course not taken into account, 
any more than the original cruelty of the slave mer- 
chant, who tears his victims from their homes and their 



228 SKETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. 

friends. On the banks of the Bosphorus, as on those 
of the Oxus, few persons care to picture to their minds 
the horrors of that first moment of separation. How 
many orphans, how many mdows, how many aged and 
helpless parents, are left behind to wring their hands 
in sorrow for their bread-winner, who is carried mto 
captivity ! It is impossible to count them, it is impos- 
sible to describe the miserable condition of so many 
villages and districts which are exposed to the terrible 
scourge of the slave trade. The traveller in those re- 
gions stumbles at every step over the most melancholy 
traces of the devastation which it causes. However 
certain he may feel of the splendid destiny which awaits 
this or that individual captive, he must still exclaim : 
" This is the most execrable occupation that has ever 
defiled the hands of man, and its suj^pression is the 
first and holiest duty which our western civilisation 
has to perform for the cause of humanity ! " 

The suppression of the slave trade in Central Asia 
is, moreover, much easier than many might at first 
sight suppose. The root of the evil is to be sought, 
not so much in the Turkomans a,s in the inhabitants 
of the cities. All nomad tribes were and are ready 
for such a trade, if they only find settled tribes who 
will buy their captives of them. The Bedoums of the 
Arabian desert could never addict themselves much to 
the trafiic, inasmuch as the markets of the surrounding 
cities were closed by the religion of Islam against the 



SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVE LIFE. 229 

sale of their booty. In the same way the Turkomans 
would soon abandon the practice, if the sale of Persians, 
Afghans, &c., in the Khanats were declared illegal. 
The Djemshidis, the Firuzkuhis, and Hezares, afford 
the strongest proof of this. As the transport of their 
captives^ to Bokhara is rendered unsafe by the inter- 
mediate Turkoman tribes, while at the same time their 
sale is forbidden in the Afghan town of Herat, they 
have either to suppress their slave-trading propensities 
altogether, or come to a compromise with the Turko- 
mans, much to the advantage of the latter. 

Sultan Murad Mirza, an enhghtened prince, and the 
governor of Khorassan, once expressed to me his sur- 
prise that England, which spends so many thousands 
in checkhig the slave trade m African waters, can look 
on unconcernedly while the same trade in the middle 
of Asia lays waste such a country, whose ancient civi- 
Hsation was of profit to Europe itself. In like manner 
I, too, cannot conceal my astonishment at the apathy 
which Europe, and especially that State whose flag is 
in the East ever the harbinger of the dawn of a newer, 
a happier era, has displayed on this question. Senti- 
mental newspaper writers, in. their pohtical rhapsodies, 
may yet for a long time take under their protection 
the feehngs of independence of many a savage Asiatic 
tribe, to whom freedom means nothing more than 
anarchy, plunder, and murder. But the dreams of 
Rousseau have had their day, and we can with the 
fullest confidence say, that whenever Europe shows 



230 SKETCHES or CENTRAL ASIA. 

herself in the East, whether in the peaceful garb of 
the missionary, or in the terrible panoply of her war- 
like power, she brings only blessings in her train, and 
scatters the seeds of a new order of things. The more 
light is poured from the West upon the East, the sooner 
will the evil customs of the old world be eradicated, 
and our brother men be made happier. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PRODUCTIVE POWER OF THE THREE 
OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 

In arguing about the Russian conquest of Central 
Asia, we are wont to say that the Court of St. Peters- 
burg, in those far-reaching schemes which she pursues 
towards the Hindu- Khush with so much toil, at so 
heavy a cost, seeks some richer recompense than is to 
be found on the shores of the Yaxartes and the Oxus. 
Well; it is true that Russia's policy does not confine 
itself to the possession of the plains of Bokhara, Kho- 
kand, and Khiva. But in the meantime let us not 
undervalue the immediate gain of these conquests. 
It is right that we should learn the com23arative worth 
of the three Khanats, the nature and extent of their 
produce, both as it is, and as with proper management 
it might become. 

The very name of "oasis countries" contributes to- 
wards creating an impression, that the inhabited part 
of Turkestan must be unimportant as regards produc- 
tive power ; add to this the poverty and the extremely 
primitive and simple mode of life of its inhabitants, 
and it is not surprising that the great distance and 



232 SKETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. 

the consequent want of knowledge should have be- 
gotten and spread erroneous notions. The natives 
themselves, as well as oriental travellers and geo- 
graphers, such as Idrisi, Ibni Haukal, Ebulfeda, and 
the learned Prince Baber, fall into the opposite ex- 
treme, by representing Turkestan as the richest country 
on the face of the globe, India alone excepted. This 
opinion prevailed in former times,* not only through- 
out Western Asia, but even very lately I have met 
with it in several locahties, and never felt more 
astonished than when I heard the egotistic Persian 
eloquently praising the wealth of Turkestan, a country 
he looks upon with deadly hatred and aversion. As 
for ourselves, we will try to form as far as possible an 
impartial estimate, although we must maintain at the 
outset, that Turkestan by far surpasses the known 
parts of European and Asiatic Turkey, Afghanistan 
and Persia, both in the wealth and variety of its pro- 
ductions ; nay, that it might be difficult to find in 
Europe, flourishing as it is, and rich in every bless- 
ing, a territory that would rival the oasis countries of 
Turkestan. 

The great variety of productions is to be ascribed 
essentially to the climate of the countries bordering 
the Oxus and Yaxartes. It is neither harsh, nor could 
it exactly be termed mild. On the average it cor- 

* The plain of Sogdiana or the Zerefsha — valley between Bokhara and 
Samarkand — is spoken of as an earthly paradise, and Hafiz calls the towns of 
Bokhara and Samarkand the greatest treasure, and yet surpassed by his 
beloyed. 



OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 233 

responds to the climate of Central Europe, though it 
must be remarked, that the winter is far more severe 
on the shores of the Sea of Aral and in the mountain- 
ous parts of Khokand, and the summer, on the con- 
trary, much warmer in those districts that lie to the 
south, and often almost tropical m the immediate 
neighbourhood of the great sandy deserts. The Oxus 
is frozen over every winter, from Kerki and Tchardshuy 
to its mouth; in Kungrad, Khodja Hi, and on the 
right bank, where the Karakalpaks dwell, the winter 
is generally very severe ; the snow lies often for weeks 
on the ground, and tempestuous north winds (Aya- 
mudjiz) are not unfrequent. Under such conditions 
there can be no question of a mild climate, and yet in 
Khiva I have found the heat unbearable as early as 
the beginning of June, while in August, near Kerki 
and Belkh, it was more sultry and oppressive, even in 
the shade, than is the case in really tropical countries. 
This great variation in the climate produces correspond- 
ing local dilSferences in the vegetation of even a small 
extent of country. Thus, for instance, the cotton of 
Yengi Uergendj is far better than that in the more 
northern districts, and the silk of Hezaresp is con- 
sidered throughout the Khanat of Khiva to be of 
first-rate quality. Gorlen produces the finest rice, 
and the finest fruit is found in the environs of Khiva, 
which lies farther south. In Bokhara and in Kho- 
kand we see the same effects produced by the climate, 
and hence the reason why each of the three Khanats 



234 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

contains, on a comparatively small area, such various 
and manifold productions, as are usually met with 
only in larger countries, which he between several 
zones.* 

The extraordinary productiveness of the soil is to 
be ascribed partly to the "blessed" rivers, so-called 
by the natives, which intersect the oasis-countries, and 
partly to the quahty of the soil. Of these rivers the 
Oxus is the most important. From its fertihzing in- 
fluence upon the land it may be compared to the 
Nile ; although, when used as drmkmg- water, the 
latter still surpasses it in its pleasantness to the taste. 
Next comes the Zerefshan, whose name, " Scatter er 
of Gold," sufficiently indicates the blessing it scatters 
over its shores. Nor are the smaller rivers, such as 
the Sliehr Sebz and the tributaries of the Yaxartes, of 
less importance. When we finally add, that the irri- 
gation of the fields is carried on with as much care, 
and much more ease, than in other parts of Western 
Asia, we shall cease to marvel any longer at the rich 
resources of the soil, however grand and important 
they may still appear. 

I have already noticed in my " Travels in Central 
Asia" that the irrigation is carried on — ^firstly, by 
natural canals, called arna^ which are formed by the 

* The difference in tlie harvest time in Turkestan best illustrates the above 
remark. In Belkh, for instance, and in the neighbourhood of Andkhuj, the 
harvest is at the beginning of June ; in Ilezaresp, Khiva, and Karakol, towards 
the end of June ; in the oasis-countries, in July ; in Kungrat, and in the north 
of Khokand, not before the beginning of August. 



OASIS COUNTEIES OF TUEKESTAN. 235 

irregular course of the Oxus; secondly, by yaps^ i.e., 
smaller artificial canals, by which every village and 
colony is surrounded and intersected. In all places 
of any importance there is a high official, called Mirab 
(prince or warden of the water), who inspects the 
various aqueducts, and orders them every spring to 
be freed from the accumulated sand. During the 
winter the sluice-gates of all the principal "arnas" 
are closed as a protection against the inundations 
which naturally follow the breaking up of the ice. 
The cleaning of the canals takes place at the beguining 
of April, and the great object in view is to make them 
constantly deeper and narrower. The sand that is 
taken out is heaped up on both sides of the bank, 
which have thus for miles the appearance of intrench- 
ments, and -svith their cooHng shade protect the precious 
water from the burning rays of the summer's sun. 
To the general purposes of communication, however, 
these intrenched ditches are very prejudicial, although 
of real advantage to agriculture. Hence, the more 
expensive kahriz — subterranean canals — in Persia, are 
far more advantageous, and, moreover, preserve the 
water purer and cooler. The yaps and arnas in 
Central Asia form great obstacles to the traveller. 
Bridges are either very bad or altogether wanting. 
Let the reader imagine the trouble and the dreadful 
loss of time incurred, when a caravan with its heavily- 
laden camels has to cross from ten to fifteen of such 
embanked canals in one day's march. How prejucU- 



236 SKETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. 

cial it is to the rivers to have so much water drawn 
off, we .see clearly in the Oxus. Formerly it flowed, 
no doubt, into the Caspian Sea, now its embouchure 
is in the Sea of Aral,* and this great change in its 
watercourse must be ascribed, if not wholly, yet in a 
great degree, to the evil of the many small canals. 

It is difficult to decide which of the three Khanats 
is the most fertile, especially now, when since the death 
of the much-lamented Conolly, nobody is able to fur- 
nish a succmct account of the nature and resources of 
the soil. To judge from all I have seen in my journey 
to Samarkand, and learned from my fellow-travellers, 
of Khokand, the native home of most of them, I should 
feel mclmed to give the preference to the Khanat of 
Khiva in point of vegetation. The two other Khanats 
have more land under cultivation, but Khiva surpasses 
them' by far m the quantity and quahty of its produc- 
tions, with the exception, perhaps, of fruit, which Bok- 
hara furnishes in greater variety, and of finer flavour. 
Bokhara also deserves the prize mth respect to all 
mineral productions; but the breeding of the finest 
cattle and horses is the exclusive property of the no- 
mads. 

The land is measured by tanah (cord, — a tanab is 

* Burnes (Travels in Bokliara, ch. ii. p. 188) doubts altogether whether the 
Oxus had formerly a different watercourse, and, amongst other reasons, sujj- 
ports his view by the opinion of the natives. No one will feel surprised that 
I heard them assert the very contrary. Among the Turkomans there exist 
numerous contradictory legends in connection with the former waternourse of 
the Oxus. 



OASIS COUNTRIES OF TUEKESTAN. 237 

equal to sixty square yards), and in Khiva and Kho- 
kand consists of (1) Mulk, freehold property, which 
is subject to the payment of taxes; (2) Khanlik^ arrear 
estates, i.e.^ such land which the Government has either 
reclaimed and brought under cultivation, or which has 
devolved upon it by confiscation and conquest. Of 
this land a third of the net income is claimed by the 
State. (3) Yarimdji,^ all land that belongs to the 
medresse (schools), mosques, or any rehgious institu- 
tions, and which is liable to a fourth of the net income. 
The Khanlik estates in each district are under the con- 
trol of a certain number of officials, called Miishilrub^ 
who at the same time collect the taxes. Church pro- 
perty, on the contrary, is under the management of 
the mutevalis, as in other Islamitic countries. 

The quahty of the land in general may be judged 
best by my stating, that the richest soil under cultiva- 
tion produces one hundred batman (one batman is equal 
to twenty-four pounds) on a tanab, and that of least 
productive quahty never less than sixty batman. And 
takmg -into consideration that the cultivation of the 
ground here, as everywhere m Asia,, is done m the 
most neo-lio-ent manner, and is in the hio-hest decree- 
primitive, a competent judge can easily form an idea 
of the great fertihty of the soil. 

It is impossible for me to say how many square miles 
of cultivated land, or of land capable of cultivation, 

* These were formerly let on the system of half -profit, as indicated by the 
name. 



238 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

the three Khanats possess. The frequent wars and 
unsettled times sufficiently explain the numerous ruins 
of former "flourishing colonies. Of the Khanat of Khiva 
thus much at all events may be assumed, that the area 
of territories laid waste and turned into deserts is larger 
than the land at present under cultivation. With the 
exception of a few single productions, with which the 
three Khanats carry on an export trade among each 
other, and with Russia, only so much of the rest is 
grown as is required for home consumption. There is 
no doubt that not only might the quality of all present 
productions be essentially improved, but also consider- 
ably multiplied. 

A short survey of the productions of the three Kha- 
nats will help to explain and confirm in detail all I 
have hitherto stated. 



1. The Vegetable Kingdom. 

Wheat and barley are the most important among 
the cereals grown in the oasis countries of Turkestan. 
There are four kinds of wheat : — 

1. Bukhara hudayi (Bokhara wheat) is considered 
the finest; it has a long, thin, and reddish grain, with 
a greenish top. Of this sort the delicious bread is 
baked, in the preparation of which the town of Bokhara 
excels, and which is famed far and wide under the 
name oi shir may e (mUk-marrow). 

2. Tokmak hash (cuneiform top) has a round, thick 



OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 239 

grain ; it is very substantial, and most like our wheat. 
The best quality is found in Khiva. 

3. Kara sullii (black-haired) has a thin and dark- 
brown grain ; it is chiefly used as food for horses, not 
being of a particularly good quality. 

4. Yazlik (summer-fruit) takes a very short time 
to grow; it is exceedingly light, and, when used, is 
mixed with other kinds of wheat. 

Barley is not so good in Central Asia as m Persia 
or Turkey. There is, besides the usual sort, an in- 
ferior one, called harakalpak in Khiva, which is here 
used, as everywhere in the East, as food for horses. 
The average prices of all cereals are exceedingly low, 
as compared with the countries of Western Asia. The 
price of a Khiva batman of the best wheat varies from 
two to three tenge (one tenge, seventy-five cent. ), whilst 
barley costs often less than one tenge, and seldom more. 

Kice is grown in enormous quantities, but it is far 
inferior to the Herat or the excellent Shiraz rice, called 
tchampa and amberbuy (amber perfume) m quality. 
It is more like the Egyptian, called in Turkey dimyati 
(damietter), but would no doubt surpass the latter, if 
cultivated with more care and attention. 

Djugeri (holcus sorghum) is grown and consumed 
in far larger quantities in the three Khanats than any- 
where else in Asia. It is eaten in a milky state, but 
when dry it is used as fodder, principally for young 
colts, being less heating, and also more nourishmg, 
than barley, from the quantity of saccharine matter it 



240 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

contains. Bread is made of it, either alone or mixed 
Avith wheat. 

Mekke djiigeri (Turkish wheat) never grows higher 
than a small span's length. Two kinds of it are found, 
one with a yellowish, the other with a red, small grain. 
It is never dried, and always either eaten in its milky 
state or used as fodder. 

Tari (groats) is an important article of consumption 
m Central Asia, and is therefore much grown. There 
are several sorts. 

Besides the well-known kmds of pulse, such as peas 
(burtshak), beans (lubie), lentils (jasmuk), &c., there 
are several others which we do not know; as for in- 
stance, the konak, which has smaller but thicker seeds, 
and a lower shrub than our lentil ; mash^ rather larger 
than millet, of a brownish colour, and several others, 
which are of no mterest to the general reader. 

Of oil-plants, I must mention first of all the kilndshi 
sesame, which thrives very well, and provides the Kha- 
nats amply with oil for cooking and burning. Then 
there is the zigir^ a plant similar to millet, which bears 
on one stalk several fruits, which are like apples, and 
the yellow seeds in which are not bigger than poppy- 
seeds. This oil is fit in food, especially in pastry. 
Then the djigit^ the seeds of the cotton-capsule, the 
oil of which, however, is not fit for food. Render 
(hemp), of which an inferior sort of Imen is made, and' 
which also furnishes the very popular narcotic, called 
beng. Lastly, mdau, a small shrub, from the greenish 



OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 241 

seeds of which a bitter oil, and of a disagreeable smell, 
is made, which is used as a medicine for animals, and 
especially for camels. 

Among the plants, which produce dye- drugs, the 
following are most esteemed : — ruyan or hoyah^ an ex- 
cellent species of madder, which thrives in all three 
Khanats, and is exported in considerable quantities to 
Russia. In the year 1835 this article was very Httle 
in request, and in the year 1860 as many as 24,523 
Russian pud (883,000 Enghsh pounds) were imported.* 
Isbarak or harak^ whose small yellow flowers, when 
dried and powdered, give a fine yellow colour. Gort- 
chuk, a plant resembhng clover, with small red flowers ; 
the leaves, when boiled, give a fine black colour. Buz- 
gundjh, a plant with a fruit similar to gall-nuts, only 
grows in southern Maymene, and in the Badkhiz moun- 
tains, north of Herat, and is said to produce the finest 
red colour ; it fetches a high price in the place itself. 

Although not belonging to the same class of plants, 
I must mention here the terendjebin, a resinous and 
very sweet substance, which grows on a thorn, called 
khari shutur (camel's thorn). The terendjehin shows 
itself suddenly and quite unexpectedly towards the 
end of the summer during the night, and has to be 
collected at once in the early morning, before it grows 
hot. It resembles a gum, is of a greyish white colour, 
exceedingly sweet, and can be eaten in its raw state; 
in Central Asia it is made into shire (syrup), but in 

* Mitchell. " The Russians in Central Asia," p. 462. 

16 



242 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

Persia it is used in the suo-ar-manufactures of Meshed 
and Yezd. 

As regards fruit, we find in the Khanats almost 
every species (with the exception of fruits of the 
South) m great quantity, and of excellent quahty. 
A very considerable export trade is carried on m it 
to Russia, and even to "rich" India. The Central 
Asiatic is not a httle proud of his superiority m this 
respect, in Asia the glory and value of a country 
being determined by the quality of its water, ah', and 
fruit. Each of the three Khanats has in the latter its 
speciahte; Khiva is distinguished for its melons and 
apples, Bokhara for its grapes and peaches. It may 
be that some parts of Persia and Turkey surpass 
Bokhara ; but for melons, Khiva is unrivalled, not 
only in Asia, but I feel inclined to say, throughout 
the world. No European can form an idea of the 
sweet taste and aromatic flavour of this delicious 
fruit. It melts in the mouth, and, eaten with bread, 
is the most wholesome and refreshing food that nature 
affords. 

The celebrated Kasrabadi melon alone, near Ispa- 
han, remuids one, though very feebly, of this fruit of 
Central Asia, unique in its kmd. There is a great 
variety of species. The principal summer melons are 
the following: — 1. Zamtche^ which ripens earliest; it 
is round, of a yellowish colour, and has a thin skm. 
2. Gorhek^ of a greenish colour, and with a white 
meat. 3. Babasheikhi is small, round, and with a 



OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 243 

white meat. 4. Koktche. 5. Shirin Petchek^ espe- 
cially mellow and sweet, of a small round shape. 
6. Shekerpare. 7. Khitayi. 8. Koknahat. 9. Akna- 
bat. 10. Begzade* The winter melons are not 
ripe until the beginning of October, but they keep 
the whole winter, and are most palatable in February. 
There are the following kmds: — 1. Karagulehi. 2. 
Kizilgulahi. 3. Besliek. 4. Payandeki. 5. Sahsaul 
Kavunu. These are mostly exported to Russia. 

The Oxus chiefly contributes to render the melons 
of Central Asia so incomparably excellent, since the 
finest quahty thrives only on its banks. The melons 
of Bokhara are very indifferent, and in quality even 
inferior to those of Khokand. 

Khardkoff mentions in his iateresting workf ten 
different kinds of grapes he found in Bokhara. In 
Khiva I met with the following: — 1. Huseini, with 
oblong seeds and a thm skin, very sweet, and keeps 
throughout the winter. 2. Meske, with large romid 
seeds. 3. SuLtani. 4. Khalide are ripe first of any. 
5. Shiborgani. 6. Taiji. 7. Khirmani. 8. Say eke. 
All these different sorts of grapes grow on the level 
ground, and are either made iato shire (syrup) or 
dried for eating; wine being made only by the Jews 
in Bokhara, and iti a very small quantity. 

There are four sorts of apples grown, and that of 

* I observe with pleasure, that of the seeds, which I brought with me from 
Central Asia, several kinds have succeeded in Hungary. These wiU un« 
doubtedly be the best melons we have in Europe. 

t "Bokhai'a, its Emir and its People." 



244 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

Hezaresp may boldly challenge the productions of our 
European horticulture. 

The mulberry, too, is larger, more varied, and 
sweeter than ours, and to this superiority we must, 
perhaps, ascribe the fact, that the silk of Central Asia 
is better than the Italian and French, and that a 
certain disease among silk-worms, common with us 
for many years, is there quite unknown. 

The rearing of silk-worms came originally from 
Chinese Tartary, especially from Khoten, where, as 
M. Remaud* correctly remarks, it was introduced in 
the first century of our era from the interior of China. 
Silk stuffs of native manufacture were known in. Bok- 
hara in pre-Islamitic times, accordmg to the testimony 
of a certain Manuscript, f which treats of the ancient 
history of Bokhara. It is no exaggeration to assert 
that the cultivation, spinning, and dyeing of silk, is a 
still more primitive process in the three Khanats than 
in China itself, where industrial progress, no doubt, 
effected many changes, whilst here ' everything has 
remained as it was years ago. The Khanat Bokhara 
supplies most of the raw silk; it is produced in the 
capital, in Samarkand, and among the Lebab- Turko- 
mans. Much also comes from the Khanat of Khok- 
and, in the neighbourhood of Mergolan and Namengan. 
Khiva contributes but little, and this little is inferior 



* " Relations Politiques et Commerciales de I'Empire Romain avec I'Asie 
Orientale," p. 197. 
t Tarichi Narschachi. 



OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 245 

in quality to the productions of the other Khanats, 
though, as competent judges have assured me, it is 
far superior to the silk of Gilan and Mazendran, in 
Persia. The manipulation, however, is very imper- 
fectly performed. I was struck with the manner of 
winding off the cocoons, which were placed in a 
cauldron of boiling water and stirred with a broom, 
until a certain number of threads unwind themselves, 
which are then wound round the broom. The dyeing 
is almost exclusively in the hands of the Jews, the 
weaving is done by the Tadjik and Mervi, who, in 
accordance with the taste and fashion of the country, 
prepare only stuffs of glaring colours. 

In former times, especially during the Arabian oc- 
cupation, the silk stuffs of Central Asia were celebrated 
throughout the East; but when the cleverest of the 
artisans were transferred by the conquerors to Da- 
mascus and Bagdad, the old art gradually disappeared, 
and is now gone for ever, in spite of the efforts of 
Timur to transplant it back from Transoxania. How 
great is the quantity of silk produced here, is shown 
by the cireumstance, that the greater part of the 
cotton stuffs, called aladja^ that are generally worn, 
are strongly intermixed with silk; that not only the 
rich, but every man of middle rank, possesses one or 
more garments, several table-cloths and pocket-hand- 
kerchiefs made of sill?:; and that a considerable export 
trade in silk is carried on, not only with Persia, India, 
and Afghanistan, but to a large extent with Russia. 



246 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

The cotton in Central Asia promises to become an 
important article for the future. It is cultivated m 
large quantities in the three Khanats, furnishing the 
material for the upper and under garments of every 
body, high and low, for their bed-clothes, and cloths 
of every kind. The cotton in Turkestan is better 
than the Indian, Persian, and Egyptian, and is said to 
equal the far-famed American cotton. At present, 
however, Russia alone consumes this article in her 
manufactures at Moskau, Wladimir, Tverskoy, &c., 
and m quantities which increase annually in a sur- 
prising degree. The manufacturers complain greatly 
of the clumsy management of the planters, especially 
of the insufficient cleansing of the cotton from the 
seeds, as well as of the dishonesty of the traders, who 
wet the bales, or fill them with stones, to make them 
heavier. Nevertheless, the cotton, which is imported 
from Khiva and Bokhara by Orenburg, is almost m- 
dispensable to Russian industry. 

In Central Asia the cultivation of cotton is com- 
paratively easy and convenient, the cotton fields re- 
quiring no irrigation, and the rain being considered, 
if anything, prejudicial even in the spring. A hard, 
stony ground, called Soga^ is always chosen, and is 
ploughed once ; on the whole, the cultivation of cotton 
is the least troublesome of all field occupations. Ac- 
cording to the statistical dates of the Orenburg 
custom-house the greatest quantity of cotton is pro- 
duced in the Khanat of Bokhara; this statement. 



OASIS COUNTRIES OF TUEKESTAN. 247 

however, rests upon an error, since the caravans of 
Khiva, when crossmg the Jaxartes, frequently join 
the Bokhariots, or they give themselves out for Bok- 
hariots ; these latter standuig on a much better footing 
with the Eussians, whilst the people of Khiva are in 
very ill favour with them. I know from my own 
experience, and have conviaced myself by frequent 
inquu-ies, that not only is the cultivation of cotton 
far more flourishing in Khiva, but its quahty is far 
superior to that in. the two sister Khanats. The pod, 
here called gavadje, is smaller than that of Bokhara; 
but the cotton is much finer and whiter even than 
the guzei sefid, that is, the first quality of Bokhariot 
cotton industry. The Central Asiatics themselves 
give the preference to the Khiva production, a fact 
which tends to confirm our opinion. In dyeing and 
weaving Bokhara stands pre-eminent, but the stuffs 
fi'om Khiva are better paid in her capital than her 
own manufactures. They are exported to Afghanis- 
tan, India, and Northern Persia, and are a highly- 
prized article even among the nomads. 

There is no doubt that the cotton of the oasis 
countries will one day considerably increase in value. 
Several circumstances of paramount and urgent neces- 
sity must combine to further this object. Above all 
things, it is requisite that important improvements 
should be introduced in the mode of cultivation; our 
European machines should come in aid of the cleans- 
ing and packing, and the roads should be rendered, as 



248 



SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 



far as possible, secure. By these means the cotton 
would not only be improved in quality, but, without 
any great additional expense, the quantity might be con- 
siderably multiplied. It is very probable that Central 
Asia may one day, although not in the immediate fu- 
ture, be to Russia what N^KjCarolina is to the manu- 
facturing towns of England at the present day. 

The immense increase in the exportation of cotton 
from Central Asia is shown very clearly in the Blue 
Books of 1862 and 1865, in the list which Mr. Saville 
Lumley, former secretary to the English embassy at 
St. Petersburg, has contributed. According to this 
official statement the Khanats exported to the value 
of— 





Bokhara. 


Khiva. 


Khokand. 




Roubles. 


Roubles. 


Roubles. 


1840—1850 


2,065,697 


470,781 


16,851 


1853 


380,514 


133,799 




1854 


509,600 


248,347 


H 
^ tr 


1855 


513,023 


.185.683 


^ CO 


1856 


501,225 


36,050 


Is- 


1857 


578,483 


66,776 


p ft> 

OQ CO 


1858 


634,643 


59,729 




1859 


495,065 


2,274 




1860 


721,899 


22,429 


4,907 


Total... 


4,284,412 


755,087 


4,907 



From this list we see, that the exports of 1840 — 



OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 249 

1850 did increase more than double during the next 
ten years, and under favourable pohtical circumstances 
would, no doubt, continue to increase. 

We must add the remark, that although Bokhara 
shows m this list throughout the largest figures, it does 
not by any means follow that they are the result of its 
own exclusive production. Much Khiva cotton has 
been included, as well as the cotton which the Urgends 
traders carry to Orenburg on the Bokhara road. The 
Orenburg custom-house furnishes the list, and all the 
cotton is entered under the head of Bokhara. In like 
manner much Khokand cotton is mixed up with it. 
The Khokand traders give themselves out for Bokha^ 
riots on the frontier, on account of the frequent hos- 
tilities between their tribe and the Eussians. 

2. The Animal Kingdom. 

We must mention first of all the domestic animals, 
and among these the genus, sheep. Two species are 
usually distinguished: 1, the Kazak hoy (the Kirghis 
sheep) ; and, 2, the (Ezheg hoy (the (Ezbeg sheep). 
The Kirghis sheep is preferred to the latter, for its 
wool as well as its meat. Throughout Central Asia 
we meet with the fat- tailed sheep. Of these it is said, 
that their masters are obhged to fasten either cylinders 
or wheels under their broad, thick tails, which they 
drag after them on the ground, in order to render 
walking easier to them, or rather to enable them to 
walk at all — a story which is by no means exaggerated. 



250 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

however incredible it may appear. The so-called Bak- 
kan- koy, the fatted sheep, give often from two to three 
batman of pure fat. The meat I fomid, in point of 
taste and flavour, superior to any in all those parts of 
Asia I am acquainted with. The highly celebrated 
Kivirdjik and Karaman sheep in Turkey cannot be 
compared to them ; and even the south Persian sheep, 
of which the Persians are exceedingly proud, are in- 
ferior to them. 

The wool is not of the same excellence, and is used 
less for clothing (probably for want of knowledge in 
the preparation of it) than for carpets, travelling-bags, 
horse-cloths, and similar other coarse stuffs ; it is little 
seen in the export trade. Black, curly lamb-skins, on 
the other hand, form an important article of trade. 
Its chief source is Bokhara, especially Karakol; from 
here it is exported all over Asia, and even to Europe, 
where it is known under the name of Astrachan. The 
sHd is drawn off the young lamb two or three days 
after its birth, and then softened in barley meal and 
salt. It is said, that washing it in the water of the 
Zerefshan gives it the beautiful lustre; and in the 
month of July thousands of them may be seen spread 
out for drying along its banks, between Bokhara and 
Behaeddin. The skins are everywhere admned, but 
mostly in request in Persia, where they are made mto 
the fashionable hats of the country. If we take into 
account, that a kiilah (a hat, for which three or four 
skins are used) costs there as much as from ten to 



OASIS COUNTKIES OF TURKESTAN. 251 

fifteen ducats, we may feel assured that our Astrachan 
of a considerably lower price is no Bokhara production. 
With the nomads of Central Asia the breeding of sheep 
is a chief means of maintenance, and we can easily form 
an idea of the innumerable flocks of sheep which graze 
and rove upon the steppes. The Kirghis send great 
quantities of sheep to the Khanats and to Russia, where 
the importation is constantly on the increase. In the 
year 1835 about 850,000, and in the year 1860 already 
3,644,000 roubles' worth of sheep were imported.* In 
addition to this enormous quantity of sheep, raw sheep- 
skins to the value of 75,000, and wool to the value of 
86,000 silver roubles, passed the Russian frontier at 
Orenburg in the same year. 

The goat is, after the sheep, one of the most impor- 
tant of domestic animals. Goats' flesh is not so palat- 
able as that of sheep, but it is here better than any- 
where else in Asia. The wool of the goat, according 
to Burnes, is far inferior to that of the Cashmir goat, 
but tolerably good; and waterproof stuffs are made 
of it. 

Horses^ of excellent breed, are found among the 
Turkomans, who export the finest to Afghanistan, 
India and Persia. The Turkoman horse, especially 
the Akhal and Yomut race,f is very little inferior to 
the Arab horse in point of swiftness and endurance, as 
well as in beauty of form. The ffizbeg horse, or the 

* Compare " The Eussiaus in Central Asia," p. 462. 
t Compare " Travels in Central Asia," p. 420. 



252 SKETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. 

species met with in Bokhara, Khiva, and Maymene, 
possesses more strength than swiftness. 

The camels of Central Asia, among which the breed 
of Bokhara and the two-humped Kirghis are considered 
the best of their kiad, are surpassed in point of strength 
and swiftness only by the Arab, and especially by the 
Hedshaz camel. The story that the camels can pre- 
serve water pure and cool in their second stomach, and 
that travellers, when suffering from thirst, drink it in 
their utmost need, is perfectly unknown here ; and on 
questionmg the nomads on the subject, they only laughed 
and seemed highly amused. These animals are famous 
in Central Asia for then' rare contentedness, satisfied 
as they are with the very worst water, and most mi- 
serable food, consisting of thistles and briars, and in 
spite of which they hold on for days, loaded with the 
heaviest burdens. They are at the same time entirely 
free from the spite and viciousness of the Arabian 
camel. They are exported to Russia and Afghanistan ; 
less to Russia. Their hair is cut twice a year, and is 
used in the manufacture of ropes and coarse stuffs. 
Cattle on the whole are not very numerous, and in rather 
a poor condition. The finest cattle are said to exist in 
Khokand, and among the Karakalpaks on the Oxus, 
whose exclusive occupation is to rear them. Beef is, 
in Central Asia, stUl more tough and unpalatable than 
in Persia or Turkey, and the consumption of it is 
therefore limited to the poorest class of the people. 
Butter and cheese are made of cow's milk, but in com- 



OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 253 

paratively small quantities. Mules are not found iii 
Central Asia, from a religious superstition against dis- 
gracing the horse, the noble animal, "par excellence;" 
but all the greater care is bestowed upon the breeding 
of the ass, which undoubtedly is here the finest and 
most excellent of all I have seen in Asia. The ass 
is, in Bokhara, not only of a vigorous frame and high 
stature, but of surprising nimbleness, and m long cara- 
van marches can be relied upon as much as the horse. 
The fowls are of the long-legged Chinese breed. Geese 
are smaller than those in Europe; and there are 
several species of ducks. Besides these, there are 
swans, partridges, guinea-fowls and pheasants, of which 
the finest sort is found in Khokand. 



3. Mineral Kingdom. 

My readers will not feel suprised that we should 
have but a scanty knowledge of the mineral riches in 
the three Khanats. Lehmann, and other Russian tra- 
vellers, who, famished with sufficient geological know- 
ledge, might have made closer investigations, were 
thwarted in their efforts at every step by the jealousy 
of the Tartar officials. I incline, however, to the 
opinion of Bumes, that Central Asia possesses either 
no precious metals or extremely few, and that the gold 
dust in the Zerefshan is not the property of the country, 
but washed down by the small rivers that rise in the 
Hindukhush. According to a statement of the Central 



254 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

Asiatics, the mountainous country round Samarkand 
and in Bedakhshan, the Oveis-Karayne mountains on 
the left bank of the Oxus (in the Khanat of Khiva), 
and the Great Balkan in the desert near the Caspian 
Sea, are rich in metallic wealth. That gold mmes 
really do exist near the upper Oxus, is proved by a 
certain considerable quantity of gold annually obtained 
from it, although the gold- washing is carried on in the 
most primitive and neghgent manner. 

The gold-washing, or more correctly the gold- 
fishing, is done mth camels' tails, of which several 
are hung up side by side between two poles. People 
beat them about in the water for some time, or they 
dip them into the river, and then hang them up. 
Those places are always chosen where the water is 
troubled, and the work is generally performed in 
June and July, the months in the year most fit for 
the purpose. I doubt whether any gold-dust is ex- 
ported ; it is not probable, since the smaller ornaments 
are made of native metal, as the Persian goldsmith in 
Bokhara informed me. Silver is found in Khiva in 
the above-mentioned mountains, and a considerable 
quantity of this valuable metal was really gained 
during the reign of AUahkuli-Khan, when the miners 
were worked for three years under the management 
of a native of India, who had been educated for this 
department. It is said that after the death of this 
prmce he either fled or was murdered. Since that 
time the mines have been much neglected. I also 



OASIS COUNTRIES OF TURKESTAN. 255 

heard some vague reports of the existence of silver 
mines near Shehri Sebz. 

Of precious stones, we must mention first of all the 
rubies of Bedakhshan, which were formerly of high 
repute in Asia, under the name of Laah Bedakhshan ; 
at the present day not many of them are found. 
Cornelian exists in large quantities in the mountain- 
rivers of Bedakhshan. It is very cheap, and is ex- 
ported to Arabia, Persia, and Turkey. Lapis lazuli, 
which is used in dyeing, is of small value in Central 
Asia, and is ex23orted to Russia and Persia. The 
turquoise of Bedakhshan and Khokand is far mferior 
m colour to that of Nishapur in Persia, and is pur- 
chased by none but the nomads and Nogay silver- 
smiths ; it is of a green instead of a blue colour, and 
liked far less than the latter.* 

This sketch of the productions of the oasis countries 
in Central Asia will have convinced my readers, and 
especially those who are acquainted with Asiatic 
countries and their conditions, that Turkestan can- 
not be numbered among the sterile countries. Called 
by the natives " a jewel set in sand," from its o^vn 
pecuHar value and the barrenness around it. Central 
Asia will certainly play an important part one day 
among the countries of the far East, and occupy a 
prominent position, as soon as the beneficent beams of 
our European civilisation shall have dried up the 
stagnant pool of its miserable social relations, and as 

* Compare Ritter, "Erdkunke," viii., 326. 



256 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

soon as the grand results we have gained for industry 
and agriculture shall there likewise have received their 
acknowledgment. It is robbery, murder, and war, 
but not the barrenness of nature, which convert the 
shores of the Oxus and Jaxartes into a desert. In 
Bokhara, but especially in Khiva, agriculture is almost 
exclusively in the hands of slaves, of which there are 
in the latter Khanat more than 80,000. Their rude 
manners have placed the sword in the hands of the 
inhabitants, — the plough is considered degrading, and 
is entirely given over to slaves. When will these 
Khanats learn to see that a great part of their mis- 
fortunes, and the unsettled state of then* political and 
social relations, originate in the perversity of their 
nature and conduct? 

A government which endeavours to smooth existing 
relations deserves our full acknowledgment and cordial 
wishes for success, although it is premature to anti- 
cipate a complete change. Nor must we grudge it the 
natural wealth of the country. Setting aside the 
moral influence of such a Government, and its possible 
future political schemes, the material gain is, on the 
whole, not large; nay, I mamtain, that it is small, 
when compared to the trouble and expense the occu- 
pation and administration of such a province require 
— a province, the communication with which must 
always be attended with endless hardships and dif- 
ficulties. 



CHAPTER XV. 

ON THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 

What I have to impart in this chapter on the ancient 
history of Bokhara is taken out of a Persian MS., 
brought by the late Sir Alexander Burnes from Bok- 
hara, which bears the name of " Tarikhi Narshakhi," the 
history of Narshakhi. The author, Mehemmed ben 
Djafer el Narshakhi, wrote this highly mteresting work 
in Bokhara, m the year of the Hegirah, 332, under the 
government of Emir Hamid the Samanide, in Arabic. 
Later, in the year 522, it was translated into Persian, 
and augmented by quotations from a not less mte- 
resting work, Khazain ul Ulum, " The Treasures of 
Wisdom," which Ebul Hassan wrote at Nishapur. In 
consideration of its historical value it is well worth 
the trouble (m a quite literal translation) to give the 
whole. The distmguished orientalist. Monsieur de 
Khanikoif, has already done this, and it will very pro- 
bably be put before the scientific world. We have 
here only selected that which is suitable to the outhne 
of our sketches, and for this reason given an extract 
m a free translation, smce this is less fatiguing to the 
majority of readers, and more acceptable. 

17 



258 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 



Bokhara, z.e, its Environs. 

On the site of modern Bokhara there must have 
been in ancient days a morass, which arose from the 
yearly flooding of the river that comes from Samarkand. 
In summer, from the melting of the snow in the exist- 
ing mountains in the neighbourhood, this was much 
augmented. This morass was dried up at a later 
period, and the fertile soil soon attracted settlers from 
all sides. From these colonists a prince was chosen, 
by name Aberzi, for their ruler. Bokhara itself ex- 
isted not then. There were simply numerous villages, 
of which Beykem or Beykend (the village of the ruler) 
was the largest. Tyranny soon dispersed this little 
colony. A part of it drew back to northern Turke- 
stan, founded the town Djemuket,* and soon enjoyed 
a flourishing condition. Later they returned to the 
assistance of their brethren whom they had left be- 
hind. Then Prince Shir Kishver, " Lion of the 
Land," conquered the bad Aberzi, put him m a sack 
full of thorns, and turned him i^ound and round until 
he die^. Bokhara gradually flourished again. Shir 
Kishver ruled for twenty years, and contributed 
much to the success of the colony, and his followers 
pursued the same path, and the whole neighbourhood 
was soon peopled and covered with villages. In what 
epoch the chronology of this place falls, is hard to con- 

* This is very probably the modern Chemket, in the new Russian province 
of Turkestan. 



ANCIENT HISTOKY OF BOKHAEA. 259 

jecture. It were a vain effort to attempt to penetrate 
the table of the oldest history of Bokhara. We prefer 
rather to give the interesting data of the MSS. on that 
neighbourhood, and to begin with Bokhara, which from 
ancient days was an important spot. 

Bokhara, the Capital. 

What the source of our information relates with 
regard to the religious importance of this spot, what 
pre-eminence its inhabitants had, what distinction 
awaits them at the day of resurrection, &c., will not 
much interest our readers. Siaush is stated to have 
been the founder of the fortress, where he was slam 
in a pubhc square, before the Gate Guriun, by his own 
father-in-law. This place was constantly held in 
honour by the fire-worshippers, and every one took 
care to offer a cock there on Noruz (New Year's Day) 
before the set of sun. This commemorative festival 
was celebrated everywhere. Troubadours have long 
sung of it in their lays, though the story relates to 
facts that happened three thousand years ago. Other 
people affirm that Efrasiab was the founder. It may 
suffice to know that the fortress long remained de- 
solate and uninhabited until Benden, or Bendun, the 
husband of Queen Khatun, rebuilt it, together with a 
castle over the gate, on which he caused his own name 
to be engraved in iron. In the year 600 Heg. this 
gate, together with the iron slab, was still conspicuous ; 
later all fell in ruins, and every attempt to rebuild it 



260 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

was fruitless. After the opinion of the wise men of 
the day it was at length rebuilt in the form of the 
Pleiades, on seven pillars, and from that time all 
kmgs who inhabited it were victorious, and, what is 
still more wonderful, none of them died, as long as 
they contmued to occupy it. This castle had two 
gates — the Eastern or Gurian Gate, the Western or 
Rigistan Gate — which were connected by a road, and 
the castle contained the dwellmgs of the chief officers, 
as well as the prison and treasury and divan. After 
these events there was a time of desolation, and it was 
agam rebuilt by Arslan Khan, and enjoyed its former 
greatness, 534 Heg. When Kharezm Shah took Bok- 
hara he permitted governors appointed from Sandjar 
to direct matters, and to destroy the citadel. Then, 
in 536 Heg., it was again restored. Similar events 
it experienced many times, till at last the Moguls, 
under Djengis Khan, reduced to ruins Bokhara and 
the fortress. 

Of the palaces of Bokhara, the Serai at the Rigistan 
must be mentioned in the first place, m which square 
the lords of this land, both in the pre-Islamite times 
and also later, were m the habit of hving. In regard 
to circumference, that which Emir Said, the Samanide, 
caused to be built is the largest, and probably most 
splendid palace, where all the high counsellors, -svith 
the governors, are found in one and the same buildmg. 

After this, we must name Seray Molian, or that 
palace which was built on the canal of the same name. 



ANCIENT HISTOEY OF BOKHAEA. 261 

This is described as an exceedingly charming dwelling- 
place, which was surrounded by the most luxurious 
gardens, the most beautiful meadows and flower-beds, 
brooks and fountains. The whole tract of country 
from the gate of the Rigistan to Deshtek (little field) 
was quite full of beautifully-painted, sumptuous houses, 
with, lovely lakes, and shadowy trees which allowed 
no sun to penetrate; and the gardens exuberant in 
fruits, as almonds, nuts, cherries, &c.* 

The palace of Shemsabad is also worthy of notice, 
which the king, Shems-ed-din, caused to be built 
near the gate Ibrahim, and which is remarkable for 
its zoological garden, named Kuruk. This was a place 
of four miles m circumference, surrounded with high 
walls, where many dove-cotes, as well as wild animals, 
such as apes, gazelles, foxes, wolves, boars ( !), in half- 
tamed condition, are found. After the death of Shems- 
ed-din, his brother, Khidr Khan, mounted the throne ; 
then his son, Ahmed Khan, who continually increased 
the beauty of the palace; but when the latter was 
conquered and conducted to Samarkand by Melek 
Shah, it was abandoned, and fell into rums. Besides 
these there were many country houses in the neigh- 
bourhood, nearer to the toAvn, which belonged to the 
Keshkushans. By this name a certain people were 
indicated who came out of the west to Bokhara, but 
were not Arabs, and possessed a singularly good 

* Almonds and cherries are, uow-a-days, not to be mot with as a prodnct of 
Bokhara. 



262 SKETCHES OE CENTKAL ASIA. 

reputation. When Kuteibe, after the conquest of 
Bokhara, required the half of the houses for the Arabs, 
the Keshkushans formed the largest portion of those 
who gave up their houses and settled out of the town. 
Of these country houses only two or three remained 
to later periods, which bore the name of Koshki Mogan 
(Kiosks of the fire- worshipping priests). There were 
many temples in Bokhara kno"\vn as those of the fire- 
worshippers, and the Mogan were accustomed to main- 
tain them with great care. The first town wall which 
extended round Bokhara was built by the command of 
the governor, Ebul Abbas, in 215 Heg., in consequence 
of the mhabitants having complamed that they had 
sufi'ered so much from the inroads of the Turks. In 
the year 235 Heg., it was repaired and fortified, but 
later enth'ely ruined when the Mongol hordes laid 
waste the city and environs of Bokhara. Besides the 
above, mosques and other buildings are mentioned. 
We wish to spare our readers these details. The past 
prosperity of Bokhara is sufficiently shown, when we 
appeal to twelve canals or larger conduits which inter- 
sect the vicinity in all directions. The fruitful and 
bounteous nature of the soil has, in the East, become 
proverbial, and the great sums which have been levied 
on the town and environs prove it. After the fourth, i.e.^ 
the final conquest of Bokhara by Kuteibe, the Khalif 
in Bagdad received 200,000, and the governor of Kho- 
rassan 10,000, dirrhems. In the time of the Sama- 
nides Bokhara paid, in Kermineh alone, more than a 



ANCIENT HISTOEY OF BOKHARA. 263 

million dirrhems tribute, which is considered an im- 
mense sum according to the tariff of that period. In 
pre-Islamite times there was m Bokhara only barter. 
The first governor who struck silver money was Kanan- 
khor. The coin had on one side his portrait, and was 
of pure silver : this lasted up to the time of Abubekir. 
The old coinage became lessened, and was replaced by 
the inferior mint at Kharezm. In the time of Harun al 
Raschid, Athref, the governor, struck a new mint of six 
different kinds of metal, which were named atrifi or 
azrifi. (I thmk that the word, common in Persia, 
eshrefi — ducats, is not from the Arabic, but derived 
from azrifi. ) 

In industrial arts also, Bokhara has exceeded the 
other nations of once famous Asia. The dress stuffs 
which were fabricated on the bank of the Zerefshan 
were sought for in Arabia, Persia, Egypt, Turkey, 
India itself. These were merely of three colours, 
white, red and green ; but its silken stuffs were strong 
and heavy, and were worn for a long time as the favou- 
rite royal and prmcely robes m many lands. Next to 
these were the large carpets and curtains, which were 
woven in Bokhara. The former of these were so ex- 
pensive that the town of Bokhara could pay, with one 
single carpet, the tribute to Bagdad. In the later 
devastations of Boldiara the clever artizans were scat- 
tered, and with them then* art fell to the ground. 



264 sketches of central asia. 

The Environs oe Bokhara. 

Besides the chief city and its wonders, there are 
many places of the environs described in the manu- 
script before me. Some of these exist even now; 
others have passed nameless. 

Kermineh. In this many other towns are comprised, 
and this region has produced many poets and "poetesses. 
It is distant from Bokhara fourteen farsangs only, and 
was named Dihi Khurdek (httle town). 

Nur is a larger place, where there are many mosques 
and caravanserais, and it is the spot most frequented 
by pilgrims of the whole neighbourhood. In Bokhara 
much is thought of this, for a journey thither is es- 
teemed as half a pilgrimage to Mecca. 

Tavais (as the Arabians name it, for the proper 
name was Kud), a considerable spot, which was cele- 
brated for its markets. They lasted commonly ten days, 
and were frequented yearly by more than ten thousand 
persons, who came from Ferghana (Khokand) and from 
all quarters. This circumstance made the mhabitants 
wealthy, and they were famous for their riches. Ta- 
vais lies on the high road to Samarkand, and is seven 
farsangs from Bokhara. 

Ishkuhket, a large and rich town, carries on an exten- 
sive commerce in prej^armg kirbas (a kind of linen); 
has many mosques, caravanserais, and is considered 
one of the loveliest towns of Bokhara. 

Zeiidine produces the best kirbas in Bokhara, which 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 265 

it exports to Arabia, Fars, Kirman, and other distant 
lands, and which is used everywhere by princes and 
great people for clothing. It is in high estimation, 
and is purchased at the same price as the heaviest 
stuffs. 

Revane is a fortified spot, and Avas formerly the 
residence of the kmgs, and it is said that it was built 
by Shapur. It is on the Turkestan boundary, has a 
weekly market, at which much silken stuff is sold. 

Efshana is a well fortified spot, has a mosque built 
by Kuteibe, and a weekly market. 

Berkend^ a large old village, which the Emir Ismael, 
the Samanide, bought, and divided the revenue be- 
tween Dervishes and Seids. 

Rametin is older than Bokhara, and was earher in- 
habited by princes. It is said to have been built by 
Efrasiab, who fortified it also at a later period, when 
he was attacked by Kaykhosrev, who sought vengeance 
on him for the death of his father, Siaush, and son-in- 
law. In this place were the most celebrated temples 
of the fire -worshippers in all Transamana. Efrasiab 
was, after two years, seized and killed by Kaykhosrev, 
and his grave is found at the entry of that fire-temple, 
which stands on that hio;h hill which is now visible 
close to the mountams of Khodscha Imam. These 
events are reported to have taken place three hundred 
years ago. 

YerakK sha is one of the Bokhara towns, and is 
celebrated for its castle, which was built by Prince 



266 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

Gedek, one thousand years since, and then lay long 
years in ruin. Later, Prince Hebek restored a portion, 
and Benyat, the son of Tugshade, is said to have 
died there. In the time of Islam, Emir Ismael, the 
Samanide, mshed to make a mosque of it, and offered 
the inhabitants 20,000 dirrhem as a re-unbursement 
for the restoration, but they dechned his ojffer. In 
the time of Emir Hayder, the Samanide, there were 
yet some wooden remains, which that person brought 
to Bokhara, and used for the builduig of his castle. 
Yerakh'sha has yearly fifteen markets, of which the 
last, which is held at the end of the year lasts twenty 
days, and also is called the Noruz market (New Year's 
Day market), which since that time (what time?) has 
become a Bokhara custom. Five days after the Noruz 
market comes the Noruz Mogan (New Year's Day of 
the priests of the fire-worshippers). 

Beyhend was considered a city, and its inhabitants 
are highly indignant if any one call it a village. Were 
a Beykender in Bagdad questioned as to his home, he 
would say Bokhara. It was once a considerable spot, 
had many beautiful buildings and mosques, and in 
the year 240 Heg. had yet many rabats (stone houses 
in the form of a caraver serai). The number of these 
exceeded a thousand, all inhabited by people who, in 
summer, dwelt at their own country seats, but in 
winter spent the fruits of their industry in the town, 
and thus were very gay. The Beykenders v/ere also 
great merchants, who carried on a trade to China and 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 267 

the Sea. The fortifications of this town are older 
than Bokhara, and it gave Kuteibe much trouble to take 
it. In earlier times each prince had here his castle. 
Between Beykend and Farab is a tract of twelve 
farsangs, which goes through a sandy desert. Arslan 
Khan had raised here a magnificent building, and 
with much cost brought the Canal Djaramgam mto 
this vicmity. In the neighbourhood of Beykend there 
are many beds of reeds and large lakes, which they 
call Barkent ferrakh or Karakol. According to a cre- 
dible statement these are about twenty farsangs in 
extent, and abound in water-fowl and fish, beyond any 
other portion of Khorassan. Here the Canal Dja- 
ramgam had not suificient water, so Arslan Khan 
■wished to bring from these lakes a stream to Beykend, 
which place Hes on a slight elevation. They began to 
dig, but they struck on an excessively hard rock, which 
rendered useless all their hammering and hewing. 
Loads of fat and vinegar were employed for the 
softening of the stone, but in vain, and the work was 
abandoned. 

Farah has a large mosque, of which the walls and 
cupola are built of tiles, without a particle of wood 
visible. It had its own princes, who governed from 
Bokhara in a settled order, and, to a certain degree, 
independently,- 



268 sketches of central asia. 

Queen Khatun and the Four First Arabian 
Field Marshals.* 

In the time of the Arabian occupation, or more pro- 
perly speakmg, in that time when the first outposts of 
the Arabian adventurer pressed to the distant East, 
there was in Bokhara a woman on the throne, who, 
during the mmority of her son Tugshade, held for 
fifteen years the reins of government mth both might 
and rectitude. Of this woman, who is considered to 
be the Nusliirvan (emblem of justice) of Central Asia, 
it is reported that she went daily from her castle on 
the Eigistanf on horseback, and, surrounded by all 
classes, busied herself with state afikirs. Towards the 
end of year 53 Heg., the Arabians, under the leading 
of Abdullah-ben- Ziad, crossed the Oxus, and took the 
once celebrated Peykend, through which victory they 
came mto possession of much treasure, and about 4,000 
prisoners. 

In the year 54, Heg., they attacked Bokhara with 
a strong army and battering engmes, and Khatun was 
cowed before the threatening peril. One messenger 
was sent by her to the Arabian field-marshal with 
presents, and instructions to obtaui at least an armi- 
stice for fourteen days ; another was sent to the north- 
east to a Turkish race, for quick aid. The stratagem was 

* Khatun means in Turkish, woman, of which word we wish to avail our- 
selves instead of a name, as this is the practice in the MS. before us. 

t Rigistaii means in old Persian, an open space, which is strewn with sand 
(rig) and kept vacant. 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 269 

successful. The Arabs, anticipating nothing, granted 
the armistice. Meanwhile the Turks approached, and 
Khatun felt herself strong enough to attack the besieg- 
ers and put them to flight. The defeat itself was not 
denied by the Arabian historians : they only add, that 
the Massulman army took a rich booty in gold, silver, 
clothing stuffs, and weapons, in which were the golden 
and jewelled boots of the queen, Khatun, the worth of 
which was estimated at 200,000 drachmas. Abdullah- 
ben-Ziad felled all the trees in the vicinity, and de- 
stroyed all the towns. Khatun felt anxious for the 
fate of her land, and concluded peace with the Arabians, 
which she bought, they say, for one milhon drachmas. 
In the year 56, Heg., Said ben Osman was named 
governor of Khorassan. He crossed the Oxus and fell 

o 

on Bokhara. Khatun wished to buy a peace for a si- 
milar sum to that which she gave Abdullah ben Ziad. 
Despite of this offer, Said, who stood with 120,000 
men m Kesch (Shehr Sebz) and Nakhsheb (Karschi), 
refused compliance, gave battle, and after he had 
beaten the army of Khatun, made peace. The queen 
was obhged to submit, and entered the army of the 
Arab as a vassal.* The submissive State gave eighty 
hostages, and Said ben Osman went to Samarkand, 
which he also took, and thence, laden mth rich trea- 
sures, returned back to Medina. The report goes, 

* Report says, that Said ben Osman and Khatun, who was a celebrated 
beauty, loved each other; and even in later years the popular ballads were 
extant which sung of this adventure. 



270 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

that the hostages which Khatun gave to the Arabian 
field-marshal were officers who doubted the legitimacy 
of Tugshade, and plotted together against the queen. 
According to agreement, they wanted merely to ac- 
company the Arab army as long as they remained in 
Bokhara, but Said wished to have them with him as 
trophies of his victory when he entered Medina. This 
moved the deceived Bokharians; and when they saw 
their ruin unavoidable, they wished, at least, to die 
avenging themselves. They slew Said, and then 
severally destroyed each other. In his turn, Muslmi 
ben Ziad was named ruler of Khorassan. He hastened 
quickly to his post, drew together a considerable army, 
and fell on Bokhara, again become faithless. Khatun 
quickly perceived that she, alone, was no match for 
him, and sought everywhere help. She gave her hand 
to Terkhan, Prince of Samarkand, to purchase pro- 
tection for her country; also the mighty Turkish prince, 
Bendun, was called in to aid. When all the assistance 
had been promised, Khatun hastened to conclude a 
truce: the Arabs consented; when Bendun appeared 
with 120,000 men, and induced the reluctant queen 
to violate the truce. The Arabian field-marshal was 
extremely incensed, and sent one of his officers, by 
name Mehleb, to Khatun, to remind her of her blame- 
able neglect of duty. Mehleb took from each com- 
pany a man with him, quitted secretly the camp by 
night, with the intention to surprise, on some point, 
the enemy's army. He was already arrived on the 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 271 

banks of the river (Zerefshan), when some Arabs, 
thinking that the question was a matter of booty, joined 
him. Their united force was not more than 900 men. 
The enemy's cavahy discovered this, and at the first 
onset cut down 400 of them. The rest fled quickly 
back, but were followed, and towards daylight reached 
near to Khoten. The Turks opened a bloody battle ; 
Mehleb was surrounded on all sides, and announced, 
by a powerful shout, his position to the nearest Arabian 
camp. The signal was heard ; Muslim knew the voice 
of Mehleb, heeded it but little, and only Abdullah, 
who blamed the mdifference of the commander-in-chief, 
mounted his horse in order to assist his brother, who 
was hard pressed. This approach gave courage to 
Mehleb and his followers. The battle was renewed ; 
Bendun fell, and the Turks were put to flight with 
great loss. An immense booty fell into the hands of 
the conquerors; and it is said that each horseman 
received about 1,000 dirrhems. After this incident 
Khatun made peace, and did homage to the Arabs. 
She also appeared in the camp, and did homage again. 
She requested to see Abdullah, whose heroic deeds 
had astonished the whole army. Muslim called him. 
He wore a blue tunic with red girdle, and favourably 
impressed the Queen by his noble appearance, and she 
made him great presents. The fourth Arabian field- 
marshal was Kuteibe ben Muslim. He went to Kho- 
rassan, under the Kaliphate of Hudjadj, conquered on 
his way the provinces of Tocharistan, and crossed 



272 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

the Oxus, in 88 Heg. Peykend was ajDprised of his 
a]3proach, a strong walled fortress, the taking of which 
cost him a hard struggle. The Arabs were forced to 
besiege it fifty days, and suiFered considerably. Since 
force could produce no effect, he was obliged to em- 
ploy stratagem, and caused it to be undermined, and 
the fortress was thus surprised. He pardoned the 
inhabitants, made peace with them, and leavmg Yarka 
ben Nasr-uUah as governor, went to Bokhara. Intel- 
ligence soon reached him that the Peykendis had 
killed the governor, whom he had left behind, and who, 
as it proved, had provoked the revolt by his cruel 
deeds. Kuteibe hastened back, plundered the city, des- 
troyed it, killed all the men able to bear arms. The 
rich and mighty Peykend, which maintained an exten- 
sive commerce in teas from China and other goods, 
was utterly destroyed. Some portions were restored 
later, but its prosperity was gone for ever. They 
relate that the Arabs, among abundant treasures, 
found a silver idol, which, with the robes, was worth 
150 miskal. Among things most worthy of remark, 
were two pearls, as large as a pigeon's egg. These, 
according to the report of the Peykendis, were brought 
into the temple by a bird. Kuteibe sent such things 
to the Khalif Hudjadj as a present, who, in a 
letter of thanks, expressed both his admiration for the 
objects, and the high spirit of the sender. From 
hence he went to Yardun, (now Yardanzi) which he 
spoiled, with all the other villages belonging to it. 



ANCIEKT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 273 

These successful advances of the Arabian army terri- 
fied the small princes of that neighbourhood, and they 
united, and attacked, with joint forces, the invaders. 
As the Arab historian affirms, Kuteibe was greatly 
distressed. He was also destitute of arms f and they 
say that a lance was bought for 5 dirrhems, a hehnet 
for 50, the cuirass for 900. Happily, the ruler of 
Samarkand, by cunning and deceit, had withdrawn 
from the alhance to go over to the Arabs; and the 
Turkish leader having obtained information that fresh 
auxihary troops had arrived in Kesh and Nakhsheb, 
retreated to Vardun; and Kuteibe remained undis- 
turbed in the possession of the conquered province in 
Transoxiana. 



TUGSHADE AND MOKANNA, THE YeILED PrOPHET 

OF Khorassan. 

Tugshade, who, after the death of his mother, was 
chosen King of Bokhara, had to thank Kuteibe, alone, 
for his throne, since he supported him against his 
powerful neighbour, the Governor of Vardun, who 
invaded Bokhara repeatedly, but was always driven 
back by Kuteibe. This feeling of gratitude may have 
been the principal cause that Tugshade went over to 
Islam, and distmguished himself by his remarkable 
ardour in favour of the new opinions. He reigned 
thirty-two years, not so much as an independent 
prince, but as the vassal of Kuteibe, who found in 

, 18 



274 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

him a mighty aid in propagating by force the doctrme 
of Mohammed, which the mhabitants of Bokhara were 
much disposed to reject. As the Arabian adventurers 
made conversion to Islam the chief condition m sub- 
mitting, the Bokhariots, at each capture of their capi- 
tal, acknowledged, m appearances, Islam, but after 
the departure of their conquerors returned to their 
beloved national rehgion, the Parsi. Kuteibe wished 
to check this. He ordered, therefore, that the half of 
the houses of the whole town should be given up to 
the Arabs. The proselytes were placed, by these 
means, m the immediate neighbourhood of men who 
continually watched them, and urged them to the new 
doctrine. In the year 94 Heg., he permitted a large 
Mosque to be built, in which all were to assemble for 
prayer on Fridays, and in which the Koran should be 
read, in an emphatic manner, in the Persian language. 
This mosque existed even in the time of our author's 
writing, who besides adds that upon the doors figures 
of annuals were cut, (which, as is known m every 
place of Islam, to say nothuig of a mosque, is treated 
as a gross offence) : the reason of this, they say, was, 
that these animals were taken from an earlier temple 
of the Fire -Worshippers, and retained afterwards. 

Tugshade reigned thirty-two years. After his 
death, Kuteibe, his son, (whom he so named, from 
attachment to the Arabian field-marshal), took the 
throne. At the commencement of his reign he aff'ected 
the Musulman, but, as it was soon apparent that he 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 275 

was secretly attacliecl to the old religion, he was exe- 
cuted by order of Ebn Muslim, the ruler of Khoras- 
san, and in his stead, Benyat, also a son of Tugshade, 
was named Lord of Bokhara. Under both these 
latter reigns, it happened that the Sefiddjamegan 
(the white-clothed), as the followers of Mokanna, 
the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, have been called, 
raised, with the new doctrine, the standard of rebel- 
lion against the Arabian conquerors. In like manner 
with Kuteibe, the son of Tugshade, did the other son, 
Benyat, go over to the rebels, and was put to death by 
order of the Khalif, 166 Ileg. The family of Tug- 
shade held the throne of Bokhara till 301 Heg., when 
Ibn Ishak, the son of Ibrahim, the son of Khalid, the 
son of Benyat, ceded his rights to Emir Ismael, the 
Samanide. 

As to the history of Mokanna and the Sefiddjame- 
gan, this movement might have had, certainly, dan- 
gerous consequences for Islam in Central Asia, if the 
authorities in Bokhara, and particularly the Khalif 
Mehdi, had not used all proper precaution. Mokanna, 
(as is related in the MS. lying before me), the veiled 
prophet of Khorassan, whose real name was Hashim 
bin Hekim, was born in the village of Geze, near 
Merw, and early occupied himself mth many kinds 
of knowledge, but especially with enchantments and 
secret arts. 

He was named Mokanna, or the Veiled Prophet, on 
this account, ]:)ecause he covered his head constantly 



276 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

with a veil, for he was deformed in features, one-eyed, 
and, moreover, bald. He had, no doubt, under Ibn 
Muslim a high military rank, as he there once came 
out in his character of prophet ; he was seized, sent to 
Bagdad, and there put ia prison. He escaped thence 
and came back to Merw, and when he showed him- 
self among his people, for the first time, he demanded, 
"Know ye who I am?" They said unto him, that 
he was Hashim bin Hekim. He replied, " You are 
in error. I am your God, and I am the God of all 
people. I call myself what I will. I was earlier 
in the world in the form of Adam, Ibrahim, Moses, 
Jesus, Mohammed, Ibn Mushm, and now in the form 
in which you see me." " How is it, then," they 
asked of him, "that these make themselves known 
as prophets, but you wish to be God? " " They were 
too sensual, but I am through and through spiritual, 
and have constantly possessed power to appear in any 
form." He hved, then, in Merw, but his agents 
moved about everywhere in order to gam followers, 
and his letters of mission began thus : — 

" In the name of the Merciful and Gracious God, 
I, Hashim, son of Hekim, Lord of all lords. Praised 
be the One God, He who was before in Adam, Noah, 
Ibrahim, Moses, Christ, Mohammed, Ibn Muslim ; 
He who was manifested before aU these, namely, I 
Mokanna, lord of might, brightness, truth, — rally 
round me and learn, for mine is the lordship of the 
earth, mine the glory and power. Besides me there 



ANCIENT HISTOEY OF BOKHAEA. 277 

is no god; he who is "with me goes to Paradise; he 
who flies from me goes to hell." 

Among his adherents an Arab, named Abdullah, 
principally distinguished himself, and, in the vicinity 
of Kesh, misled very many. At a later period the 
greater part of the villages around Samarkand and 
Bokhara went over to him. The professors of the 
new sect became from day to day stronger, and with 
their numbers increased also both uproar and riot, 
and the alarm and cries of the Musulmans. When 
the governor of Khorassan was informed of this issue 
he wished to seize Mokanna ; who then kept himself con- 
cealed a long time, and though all the passes of the Oxus 
were guarded, he succeeded in escaping over to the 
Transoxanian side, and effected a retreat into a strong 
fortress on the mountain of Sam, near the town of 
Kesh (the modem Shehr Sebz). The Khalif Mehdi 
also was struck with terror at the intelligence. He 
sent first troops, and then arms in person to Nishapur, 
for it had become a question whether the partisans of 
Mokanna would not obtain the upper hand, and Islam 
sink to the ground. At that time in the new sect 
robbery and murder having been permitted, immense 
hordes out of Turkestan joined the revolters, the 
Musulmans were hard pressed on all sides, their 
villages plundered, their women and children carried 
away to prison. In the year 159 Heg. the com- 
mandant of Bokhara went against them with a con- 
siderable force, and the contest between the partisans 



278 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

of Mokanna and the Mohamedans lasted in that 
country many years. The Veiled Prophet moved not 
from his fortified position, his spiritual influence was 
sufficient to stimulate his followers. 

The Arabian garrison of Bokhara, with the few 
which remained true to Islam, soon felt itself too 
weak agamst the number and fanaticism of their far 
superior enemy. Aid was sent from Bagdad under 
the command of Djebrailo bin Yahya; and the well 
fortified place, Narshakh, which was a residence of the 
Sefiddjamegan, was first attacked. After a close and 
vain siege the walls could only so far be damaged 
as to allow a ditch that was fifty yards long to be 
filled with wood and naphtha : this they fired, and the 
cross beams of the wall became consumed, and the 
whole mass without support fell. With sword in 
hand the Mohamedans rushed mto the fortress, many 
were massacred, many yielded under the condition of 
retreating with their arms. The fortress was eva- 
cuated, yet when the Sefiddjamegan heard that their 
commanders were put to death in a traitorous fashion, 
they themselves took up arms in the enemy's camp. 
A fresh contest arose, in which the Arabs con- 
quered, and the supporters of Mokanna were partly 
destroyed, partly put to flight. After Narshakh, 
Samarkand had to be forced, the inhabitants of which, 
in great part, were known to belong to the new sect. 
The sieges and battles of these places lasted more than 
two years (because a great number of the Turks had 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 279 

joined the Samarkanders without any result being 
obtamed). 

Mokanna, the mysterious prophet, kept himself 
during this period always in his fortress, attended by 
one hundred of the loveliest women of Transoxiana. 
The interior of the castle was kept only for these with 
himself and one male page ; besides these was no earthly 
eye permitted to penetrate into his sanctuary. They 
say that 50,000 of his followers lay at the gate of the 
fortress, and earnestly implored him to show but once 
his god-like splendour. He refused, sent his page 
with the message : — " Say to my servants that Musa 
(Moses) also mshed to see my godhead, but the beams 
of my splendour he could not support. My glance 
kills instantly the earth-born." The enthusiastic ad- 
herents assured him that they would gladly offer 
their lives as a sacrifice if this high enjoyment was 
allowed to them. When he could not furthermore 
deny them, Mokanna consented to their entreaty, and 
appointed them to come at a certain time before the 
gate of the fortress, where he promised to show 
himself. On the evening of the appointed day he 
ordered that his women should be placed in a line, 
mth looking-glasses in their hands, as the beams of the 
setting sun were reflected in the looking-glasses, and 
when everything was illuminated by that reflection, 
he ordered them to open the doors. The splendour 
blinded the eyes of his devoted adherents, who fell 
prostrate, and called out, — "»God ! enough for us of 



280 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

thy glory, for if we see it more all will be destroyed I " 
They lay long in the dust supplicatmg him, until at 
length he sent his page with the message : — " God is 
pleased with you, and he has given you for your use 
the good of all the world." 

Fourteen years long Mokanna is reported to have 
lived m this fortress consuming his time with women 
in drinking and carousing. The Arab field marshall, 
Said Hersi, had at last, aftei a hard siege, driven him 
into straits. The outer part was taken, and there was 
only the inaccessible citadel on a higher eminence. 
With the extinction of his ascendant star Mokanna 
was abandoned by his followers, and when he saw the 
inevitable rum nigh he decided, in order not to fall 
into the hands of his enemies, rather to destroy him- 
self with his women and treasures. He gave to the 
women at a last carouse a strong dose of poison in 
wine, and challenged them to empty a goblet with 
him. All drank but one, who poured the wine into 
her bosom, and as an eye-witness, told later the whole 
catastrophe. According to her, Mokanna, after all the 
women had fallen dead, cut oif the head of his faithfal 
page, and, quite naked, burnt himself, with his treasures, 
in a furnace, which had been heated for three days. 
He amiounced before that he wished to go to heaven 
to call the angels to his help. " I have long watched 
the furnace," said the fortunate woman who escaped, 
"but he never came back in that fashion." After the 
death of Mokanna there were many curious sects and 

\ 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF BOKHARA. 281 

creeds, but they concealed themselves from the ever 
increasmg power of Islam. Under the Samanides the 
doctrme of Mohammed spread more and more, and 
Transoxanian comitries became soon famous for their 
religious zeal. 



i 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ETHNOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 
TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES OF 
CENTRAL ASIA. 

THE TUEKS OF EASTERN ASIA.— PHYSIOGNOMY AND 
CUSTOMS. 

I THINK that there are few points upon the whole 
terrestrial globe, which are of greater importance for 
our historical researches than the oases of Central 
Asia. These in the primitive times were inexhaus- 
tible floodgates for those warlike hordes, who often 
inundated and conquered the most beautiful spots of 
Jfeia, streaming towards the west in wild torrents, 
and even occasioning alarm among Europeans. No 
people can be so interesting for us upon the subject of 
Ethnography as the Turko- Tartars, who, under such 
various names and forms, have appeared on the scene 
of the events of the world, and have had such powerful 
influence over our own ciixumstances. Is it not sur- 
prising that of all nations we are the least acquainted 
with these? Huns, Avars, Utigurs, Kutrigurs, Kha- 
zars, and so many others, float before our sight only 
in the mist of fable. The clash of arms which sounded 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 283 

through them from the Yaxartes to the heart of Gaul 
and Rome has long smce ceased. In vain should 
we inquire even into their origui, did we not find m 
the scanty dates of the Western chronicles of that 
period some points of reliance. These dates show us 
that between the Tartar tribes of that age and the 
present inhabitants of Central Asia there did exist an 
analogy of an unmistakeable character. We detect 
this in descriptions of them — in the accounts of their 
manner of living — all evincmg much resemblance to 
the customs and physical condition of the present in- 
habitants of Turkestan. A similar life to what Pris- 
cus describes in the Court of the King of the Huns is 
met with to-day in the tent of a nomadic chief. Attila 
is more original than Djingis or Taimur, but as his- 
torical personages they resemble each other. Energy 
and good fortune could now almost produce upon the 
borders of the Oxus and Yaxartes one of those 
heroes, whose soldiers, like an avalanche, carrying 
everything before them, would increase to hundreds of 
thousands, and would appear as a new example of 
God's scourge, if the powerful barriers of our civi- 
lisation, which has a great influence in the East, did 
not stop the way. The people of Central Asia, parti- 
cularly the nomadic tribes, are, in the internal rela- 
tions of their existence, the same as they were two 
thousand years ago. In these physiognomical signs 
we find already changes from a mixture of Iranian 
and Semitic blood (chiefly after the Arabian occupa- 



284 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

tion). The features of the Mongohan- Kalmuck type 
here and there approach the Caucasian race. The 
Tartar m Central Asia is no longer what we see him 
represented by the Greek- Gothic writers, for even in 
the times of Djingis he was no longer the same. It is, 
therefore, of great interest to mark how this change in 
physiognomical type continually decreases from the east 
to the west — how this Deturkism, if I may so express 
myself, is perceptible among the various races of Central 
Asia, and in what degree their various gradations through 
social circumstances came, more or less, in contact 
with foreign elements. This will especially be seen 
by a cursory view of the Turkish nations of Central 
Asia from Inner China to the Caspian Sea; but those 
Turks who stretch hence up to the Adriatic, or to the 
banks of the Danube, are West Turks, and camiot be 
included in the unity of race so much by physiogno- 
mical type as by analogy of speech, characters, and 
customs. 

With the former, whose masses have retained com- 
pactly together the unity of- the race, in spite of all 
those ways in which the Central Asiatics differ remark- 
ably from one another — in spite of our ethnographical 
names, — the distmction shows itself clearly in their 
features and common physical type. Whatever views 
we may entertam of the origm of the Turks, so much 
is certam, that they are closely related to the Mon- 
gols; the relation bemg much closer than those which 
subsist between the Indians and Persians in Iran. 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 285 

Much, very much indeed, is to be done before we 
have investigated the mutual relations of the whole 
Turko- Tartaric race, which stretches from the Hindu 
Kush to the Polar Sea, from the interior of China to 
the shores of the Danube. Our present sketch is only 
a weak attempt at a small portion — general views 
upon all. that personal experience has presented to our 
observation ; and it may here and there exhibit some- 
what of novelty. Through the extent known to us 
from East to West, we divide the Turks mto the 
following classes : — 

1. Buruts, black or pure Kirghese. 

2. Kirghis, properly Kazaks. 

3. Karakalpaks. 

4. Turkomans. 

5. (Ezbegs. 

Buruts. 

These are pure, or black (Kii^ghis), and dwell on 
the eastern boundary of Turkestan, namely, the valleys 
of the Thian-shan chain of mountains, and inhabit 
several points on the shores of the Issik Kol, close upon 
the frontier towns of Khokand. As I am told (I have 
only seen a few of them), they are thick-set, but of 
powerful stature, strong-boned, but remarkably agile, 
to which last quality their warlike renown is attributed. 
By then- physiognomy alone are they to be distinguished 



286 SKETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. 

from the Mongolians and Kalmucks : the face is less 
flat, their cheeks less fleshy, their foreheads somewhat 
higher, their eyes are less almond-shaped than those 
of the latter. With regard to their colour, they can 
be little distinguished from the neighbouring nomadic 
races ; red or fair hair and white complexion (by which 
type our European scholars would claim relationship 
for this race with the Finlanders and other north Altaic 
races) are rarely found; at least, my Khokand friends 
assured me that among hundreds there were scarcely 
one or two.* In all likehhood the Kiptchaks, of 
whom I have made mention in my travelling journal 
at page 382, are no other than a division of the Buruts, 
who are settled do'wn in and around Khokand, and 
have caught, both from Islam and from their social re- 
lationship with Turkestan, far more than the rest of the 
Buruts, who, through their contact with Kalmucks and 
Mongolians, now and then profess themselves more or 
less Islam. Their language also contains many more 
Mongolian words than the dialect of the Kiptchaks. 
From this most original Turkish people we pass over 
to the second gradation, which is — 

* Klaproth, and Abel Kemusat, in his " Researches on the Tartar Lan- 
guages," counts this stock with the Hindu- Q-othic race, which assertion is 
now considered by every one an error. Castren may, without doubt, be 
right, if he in his investigations in south Siberia finds relationship in a light- 
oloured Turkish stock ; but these are not Buruts. T believe that even the 
jearned Mr. Schott is deceived, when, following Chinese sources, he favours 
this opinion, in his treatise, " Upon the Pure Kirghese." Berlin : 1863. It 
appears that the Buruts are confounded with the Uisuns, who dvi'ell further 
north, are light-coloured, and probably are the remnant of a Finnish stock. 
See " The Russians in Central Asia," by Mitchell, p. 64. 



turanian and iranian races. 287 

The Kirghis. 

Among the Kirghis or Kasak (as he calls himself), 
the character of the Mongol Kahnuck type is no longer 
to be met with in such a striking manner as among the 
Buruts, although he is hardly to be distinguished from 
the latter in language and manner of life. In colour, 
he nearly resembles the rest of the inhabitants of the 
deserts of Central Asia. The women and youths, in 
general, have a white and almost European complexion ; 
still this becomes soon altered, through the manner of 
living in the open air, in heat and cold. The Kirghis 
are of thick- set and powerful frames, with large bones ; 
they have mostly short necks, — a real type of the 
Turanian, opposed to the long-necked Iranian; not 
very large heads, of which the crown is round, more 
pointed than flat. They have eyes less almond-shaped, 
but awry and sparkling, prominent cheek-bones, pug 
noses, a broad flat forehead, and a larger chin than the 
Buruts. Their beards have little hair on the chin, only 
on both ends of the upper lip; and it is remarkable, 
that they lament this deficiency, and by no means find 
such dehght m this physiognomical characteristic as 
in the projectmg cheek-bones, small eyes, &c., which 
are esteemed by them as beauties.* 

* That many nomads censured this deficiency in projecting cheek-bones in 
myself, as a disfigurement, I have already mentioned. This need not astonish 
us ; and it appears to me truly remarkable, that Dr. Livingstone, in his book, 
"The Zambesi and its Inhabitants," can assert that he has seen African 
women, from the Makololo race, who, standing before the mirror, strove to 
lessen the broad mouth, which is common among them, with the intention to 
make themselves more beautiful. 



288 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

Since, as we have said, the type of the primitive race 
is no longer so strikmg among them and universal as 
among the Buruts and Kalmucks, so also we find their 
ideal of perfect beauty derived only from their neigh- 
bours, with whom they gladly intermix; and Lew- 
schine* has rightly stated a fact, when he mentions the 
preference they allow the Kalmuck women before their 
own. That from their great extension through the 
northern desert lands of Central Asia, perceptible 
shades may be met with in the external traits is scarcely 
to be doubted ;f but one easily comprehends that our 
classification into great, little, and middle hordes, is un- 
known to them ; for, from the mutual tie of the manner 
of living, customs and dispositions, they remain always 
the same, in spite of the many subdivisions into branches, 
families and lines, which they, like the Turkomans, 
gladly consider as decided separations. Whether on 
the shores of the Emba or of the Sea of Aral, as well 
as in the environs of the Balkhash and Alatau, there is 
little difference to be found in the dialects spoken by 
them. Many tales and songs, many national dishes, 
and national games, are, throughout the year, to be 
met with m hke manner ; and although they may occur 
but seldom, still, love of travelhng and warlike dis- 
turbances have often brought together the most distant 
races. 



* " Description of Kirgliese Kazaks," by Alexis de Lewschine. Paris : 1840 ; 
"page 317. 

t See the former work, page 300, chapter II. 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 289 

In their dress, the Kirghis are to be distinguished 
from the rest of the nomadic tribes and settlers: in 
Central Asia, mostly by their head-gear. The men 
wear, in summer, a felt hat (kalpak) ; m winter, a cap 
(tumak), with fur covered with cloth, the back-flaps 
of which protect the neck and ears. Besides these, 
they have still a little fur cap {koreysh)^ which, how- 
ever, is employed more for in-door use. The women 
wear a sheokele^ which is distinguished from the Turko- 
man head-dress in that it is more conical, and allows 
the veil to fall not before, but down the back to the 
loins. The hair, also, is dressed in a different fashion. 
The young Turkoman women plait the hair in two 
plaits; the Kirghis with eight thin ones, four on 
either side. They cover their heads with a letshek, in 
cloth, which covers head and neck. In neglige attire, 
the girls twist red handkerchiefs round their heads, 
but the women white or dark-coloured ones. The 
upper garments have the same tasteless form, with 
many folds, as everywhere in Central Asia, only more 
of the bright and glittering colours are liked; and in 
the north of Khokand it is the custom for the young 
Kirghis to f)repare for themselves a garment from 
the raw hide of the fox- coloured horse, besides which 
they let the horse's tail hang down from the neck as 
an ornament. In their coverings for their feet, the 
only distinction is, that the western have adopted the 
Russian form of boot; the eastern, on the contrary, 

19 



290 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

the Chinese; namely, with pointed, curved toes, and 
slender, high heels. 

The rehgion is almost universally the Mohammedan ; 
still, in a very lax condition, which is the case with 
nearly all the nomadic tribes in connexion with Islam.* 
Before and lon^ after the Arabian occupation of 
Central Asia, the Kirghis professed Shamanism, and 
it is not to be wondered at, considering the little 
influence which the teachers of Mohammed could 
maintain there, that much of the early faith remains 
there now, and out of a whole tribe, which consists of 
many hundred tents, there are often only one or two 
persons among the chiefs who can read the Koran a little. 

The greater part of them are the bad students 
out of the schools of the three Khanats, who for pay 
go into the army in the deserts. The true proselyte 
zeal has long become extmct, and the able seek employ- 
ment in the town.f To keep a Mollah or an Akhond 
is besides more fashionable, for it points out the affluent 
condition of a party. To the nomadic tribes their 
material condition is of more consequence; they look 
upon religion as a secondary object. They call them- 
selves Mohammedans, but prayers, fasts, and other 
religious acts are little observed by them, and it 

* The Islam of faith was established, according to Fischer ("History of 
Siberia," pages 86, &c., and elsewhere) towards the middle of the sixteenth 
centmy, by one Kutshum. This date is admitted by those in the north, as 
well as by the dwellers in South Siberia, still in Turkestan that conversion is 
reported to have taken place much earlier. 

t Lewschine says the same in his above-named work upon the Kirghis, 
page 353. 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 291 

will in consequence not appear at all remarkable that 
superstition, that remmiscence of the infancy of all 
people, still plays here an important part. Chiro- 
mancy, astrology, casting out devils, breathing on the 
sick, and other humbugs we will not mention, since 
we find them m the educated Islamite countries, as 
Persia, Turkey, and even m enlightened Europe. Of 
the superstitions of the Kirghis those only are most 
interesting for us which relate especially to the earlier 
faiths of these nomadic tribes, and furnish us thereby 
with some ideas as to their earlier social relations. 
That sacrifices were offered, the still existing oracle 
upon the shoulder-blades and entrails proves. The 
first, called Keoze siiyeghi, consists in placing on the 
fire, clean and pure, the shoulder-blade of a sheep just 
slaughtered, keeping it in the flames until it is quite 
reduced to powder. It is then carefully laid down, 
and the experienced person, who is generally a grey- 
beard, a Bakhshi, or a Quack (Kam) studies the cre- 
vices of the burnt leg with the greatest seriousness 
and a countenance full of importance.* When the 
cracks run parallel with the broad end of the leg it 
signifies good fortune, but if in the opposite direction 
a misfortune. The latter, naturally, is seldom detailed- 
Still this is no wonder, for when the civilized Greeks 
were cheated at Delphi and Dodona, why should not 

* Dr. A. Bastian lias found the oracle of the shoulder bone even among the 
Buruts who profess Shamanism, and it is considered by the Kirghis as a 
remnant of the same religion. See Ausland, No. 23, 1869. 



292 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

this happen among the Kirghis deserts. To prophesy 
from the position and twisting of the entrails is a rare 
knowledge, in which the Kalmucks pretend to be par- 
ticularly distinguished. It is remarkable that this 
oracle is only consulted when they are curious to 
know the sex of a child that is to be born. Fire also 
must probably have been held in high honour, because 
it was not allowed to spit on it. Ceremonies and 
dances are held around it, a custom which exists in 
a wonderful manner in so many parts of Asia, Africa, 
and Europe, and is still carried on in this district as 
well as in Khiva and Khokand. To blow out a light 
is considered very ill bred by the Kirghis in the 
whole of Central Asia; and finally from the colour of 
burning oil, fat, &c., many prognostics are divined. 
The superstition of the women is enormous, and really 
deserves the trouble of a particular study. A girl, 
when only in her fourth year, is possessed with it 
as completely as an elderly nomadic matron who has 
passed her whole life in the lonely desert which de- 
developed all her intellectual faculties m that direc- 
tion. Each individual part of the tent, each utensil, 
has some superstition in connexion with it, which 
is strictly observed in pitchmg a tent, in milking, 
cooking, spinning, and weaving, far more than the 
laws of Islam, which are never particularly taken to 
heart. But the favourite divination of these sooth- 
sayers is from fresh-spun thread. Four stones are 
laid down, two white and two black ; in the midst is 



TUKANIAN AND IRANIAN. RACES. 293 

a thread, strong twisted^ and the other end suddenly 
set free. If the thread ui its fall sink down to the 
black stones, it signifies misfortune; to the white, the 
contrary. From the hand of the twister no action is 
descried, for the oracle must be mfallible. This is 
called Tyik Yip, and is to be found everywhere in 
Central Asia. 

Of food which is peculiar to the Kirghis we will 
name Sltrii, which consists of smoke-dried flesh (horse 
or sheep's flesh) cut into small pieces, roasted in. fat. 
The preference for this arises from its keeping for weeks 
carried about without spoihng. Kodje, ordinary 
wheat, is cooked in water and eaten in sour milk. 

As national games of the Kirghis, we may mention 
tadjak-kisimo (stocks). It consists in leaping over a 
rope held high. The winner is applauded, the clumsy, 
on the contrary, are pressed between two chairs, and 
exposed to the jeers of the company. Further, "eshek 
yagiri" (womided asses' back), in. which in running 
they must leap over three or four squatting play- 
fellows. 

3. Karakalpaks. 

These form the third division in the race, and are 
essentially different from the Kirghis in physiogno- 
mical expression, although allied in language and 
customs. The Karakalpaks are distinguished by a 
tall, vigorous growth and a more powerful frame 
than all the tribes of Central Asia. They have a 



294 SKETCHES OE CENTEAL ASIA. 

large head with flat full face, large eyes, flat nose^ 
shghtly projecting cheek-bones, a coarse and slightly 
pointed chin, remarkably long arms and broad hands. 
Taken as a whole, their coarse features are in good 
harmony with their not less clumsy forms, and the 
nickname of the neighbouring people 

Karakalpak. 

Tiize yalpak. 

tJzi yalpak. 

Karakalpak, (has a flat face, and is himself totally flat). This 

sobriquet has not been uttered without reason. The 
complexion approaches that of the OEzbegs, particularly 
that of the women, who long retain their white com- 
plexion, and with their large eyes, full face, and black 
hair, do not make an unpleasant impression. In Central 
Asia they are highly renowned for their beauty. The 
men have pretty thick, but never long beards. The 
Karakalpaks, who are sometimes falsely ranked with 
the Kirghis, are at present only to be met with in the 
Khanat of Khiva, to which they moved at the begin- 
ning of this century. A man of this tribe relates 
to me that they lived earher on the banks of the 
Yaxartes, and certainly near its mouth, whilst another 
portion abides in the neighbourhood of the Kalmucks, 
probably in the government of the Semipalatmsk. 

The first part of this report does not seem to me to 
be a mere invention, for Lewschine (in the above-cited 
work, p. 114), reports, speakmg of the rums of Djem- 
kend, that even in the last century Karakalpaks had 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 295 

lived there. According to all probability they have 
separated for a long time from the Kirghis, to whom 
they approach nearest, and now they form, mth re- 
spect to their physiognomy, the transit pomt from the 
latter to the (Ezbegs. In their dress they draw 
nearer to the (Ezbeo:s than the Kirg-his. The men 
wear large telpeh (fur caps) which fit low in the neck 
and cover ears and brow ; the women have a cape like 
a cloak round the throat, and are delighted "\vith red 
and green boots. The tent of the Karakalpaks is 
much larger, and of stronger construction than that of 
the rest of the nomadic tribes, and is guarded by a 
species of large dog, only to be met with among this 
tribe. In their dwellings in general they are distinct 
from the other nomadic tribes in dirt and uncleardi- 
ness; they evince also m their food and clothmg a 
carelessness, which makes them abundantly ridiculed 
and disliked by their neighbours. To their national 
dishes belongs the torama, which consists of finely 
chopped meat, and is cooked with a large quantity of 
onions (which vegetable is much liked there) and 
mixed meal. Kazan djappay^ meal baked in a pan in 
fat, which is considered a dainty. Lastly, baursak, 
a meal which consists of a four-cornered piece of pasty 
filled with meat. 

A favourite game is Jciimalah^ resembling the game 
m Europe. It is played with dried excrements of 
sheep. Many of them devote themselves to games of 
chance. 



296 sketches of central asia. 

4. The Turkomans. 

These, which I designate as the fourth gradation of 
the Mongolian Turkish race in then* westerly exten- 
sion, possess many of the peculiarities of the Kirghis as 
well as of the Karakalpaks. The pure Turkoman type, 
which is to be found among the Tekke and Tchaudor, 
living in the heart of the desert, is denoted by a- 
middling stature, proportionately small head, oblong 
skull (which is ascribed to the circumstance, that 
they are not placed at an early period in a cradle, but 
in a swing, made of a linen cloth), cheek-bones not 
high, somey/hat snub noses, longish chin, feet bent 
inwardly, probably the consequence of their continual 
riding on horseback, and particularly by the bright, 
sparkling, fiery eyes, which are remarkable in all sons 
of the desert, but especially in the Turkomans. As 
regards colour, the blond prevails, and there are even 
whole tribes, as, for example, the Kelte race among 
the Gorgen Yomuts, which are generally half blond. 
On the borders of the desert, but particularly at the 
Persian frontiers we find this principal trait already 
quite altered by the frequent and considerable inter- 
mixture with the Iranian race, m which one sees 
many men with thick black beards, and often without 
the least trace of the Mongolian Turkish race. In- 
deed, the Goklens are those who, with the exception 
of the formation of the eyes, most resemble the 
majority of the Persians 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 297 

Slave-dealing, which from iiumemorial times has 
been practised m the northern provinces of Persia, 
has there, where the intermediate trade with Persian 
slaves takes place, left many traces behind. Still, only 
upon the borders, for those living in the interior of 
the desert and occupymg themselves more with the 
peaceable occupation of keeping cattle than with ala- 
mans (foray) have, on the average, preserved the 
marks of the pure Turkoman type. As the nomads 
are generally more agile and quick than the settled 
tribes, which is naturally to be attributed to the end- 
less wanderings of their adventurous existence ; so the 
Turkomans are to be distinguished in this pecuharity 
from all the dwellers in tents in Central Asia. And 
their slender frames, hardened by a very poor food, 
can outdo even the Arab in privations and endurance. 
Taken as a whole, the Turkomans cultivate (spite of 
the type of a family unity) a strange mixture of cus- 
toms and habits, which are found either here and there 
among the neighbouring nomads and OEzbegs, or only 
among themselves. While their language approaches to 
the Azerbaidjan dialect, their customs have the pure 
Turko- Tartarian stamp; and in their social relations, 
as well as in their warlike existence and their abundant 
religious usages, they have more m common with the 
Kiptchaks than with the Kirghis, Karakalpaks, and 
(Ezbegs, with whom they have lived in close con- 
nexion for so many centuries. That they separated 
themselves early, very early, from the greater part 



298 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

of the Turko- Tartarian nations, admits of no ques- 
tion. There is no doubt, according to their o^vn 
assertions, that they moved first from the east to 
the north-west, namely, towards the southern frontier 
of the former main horde, and thence towards the 
south. This assertion is very probable, and as alleged 
proofs of it, we may cite the small number who have 
remamed behind on the road as remnants, and are still 
now to be found. As such, are cited the Turkomans 
to the north of Kermineh and Samarkand, who, in the 
midst of kindred elements, have remained true to their 
nationality. Their emigration from Mangishlak, un- 
questionably the oldest abode of the Turkomans, is 
indicated by the Central Asiatics themselves in the fol- 
lowing chronological order. As the oldest in their 
present native country, we name the Salor and Sariks ; 
after them come the Yomuts, who, before the period 
of the Sefevides, stretched from the north towards 
the south along the shores of the Caspian. It is 
said that the Tekke, at the time of Taimur, were 
transplanted to Akhal in small numbers, in order to 
paralyse the great strength of the Salor. The Ersaris, 
towards the end of the last century, from Mangishlak 
have settled upon the shores of the Oxus; whilst, 
finally, the Tchaudors, of the more recent period of 
Mohammed Emin Khan (Khiva), from the shores 
of the Aral and Caspian Seas, are shifted to the opposite 
bank of the Oxus, although many of that tribe are to be 
found in the old places. As the Turkoman's chief em- 



TUEANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 299 

ployment aims at pillage, it is natural to expect that many 
of tlieir customs should harmonize with this. Their 
attire, although m its origin of the Khiva fashion, is 
made shorter and closer, that they may be able more 
easily to take hard exercise : the heavy fur cap is re- 
placed by a smaller one. Their drawers, which sup- 
ply the place of trousers, are very wide, and remind 
one of the national 'garb of the Hungarian peasants. 
The curls of hair which hang down behind the ears 
far over the shoulders of the young, are peculiar to 
this tribe. These are allowed to grow by the young ; 
during the first year of married life, they are worn 
concealed in the cap, and only after its lapse cut off. 
This ornament gives to the young cavaher a stately 
appearance whilst riding, and he is not a little proud 
of it. The dress of the women, also, has some peculi- 
arities, to which belong the ujDper garment, hanging 
down, long-armed, hke the Hungarian jacket; the 
head-gear, and the masses of silver ornaments, — as 
bracelets, necklaces, amulets, etuis, &c. It is not 
unusual to meet among the women perfect beauties, 
not mferior to the Georgians in growth and regularity 
of features. Though the young girls in all nomadic 
tribes are tolerably practised riders, the young Turko- 
man women stand pre-eminent in this art. With re- 
gard to their rehgious zeal for Islam, their proneness 
to superstition is the same as that of the Kirghis ; and 
as the readers of my " Travels " are more acquainted 
with them, we will pass from them to the CEzbegs. 



300 SliETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

QllZBEGS. 

These may be considered the established and civilized 
inhabitants of Central Asia, and they have retained 
only feeble traces of the Mongolian- Turkish race, owing 
to considerable intermixture with the ancient Persian 
elements, and also the great number of slaves, who 
are brought there out of the present Iran. In their 
broad faces, somid of voice, the sharp angle which the 
temples form, and especially the eyes, we recall their 
Tartar origin. The (Ezbegs were always pointed 
out by the Tadjiks by the nickname of Yogunkelle 
(thick skull), and really this part of their body is 
thicker and coarser than that of the rest of their Tura- 
nian fellow races. Besides the diversity that reigns 
among them in the three Khanats and m Chinese Tar- 
tary, you may further observe that the dwellers in 
villages generally possess more signs of the national 
type than townsmen. For ingtance : (Ezbegs of Khiva 
are to be recognised by the broad, full face, low, flat 
forehead, large mouth; the CEzbegs of Bokhara, by 
the somewhat more arched foreheads, more oval faces, 
and long, pomted, oblong chin, and the great majority 
by black hair and eyes. Also in colour there are 
some shades of resemblance. In the neighbourhood of 
Kashgar and Aksu yellowish-bro^\ai to blackish tint pre- 
vails ; in Khokand, brown ; in Khiva, white is the reign- 
ing colour. Indeed, the QEzbegs are bastards of the 
Turanian race, in the same manner as the Tadjik and 

% 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 301 

Sarts (the aborigines of the ancient Transoxiana, Sogdia, 
and Fergana* ) . Of the origin, immigration, and settle- 
ment of the (Ezbegs, we have but httle information, and 
that highly confused. Whilst some mamtaiu that the 
name of QEzbeg was the name of one of their most re- 
nowned princes, who, in the time of Djingis, ruled over 
the whole desert; others discover, in the etymology of 
the word Q^^zbeg (independent prince, independent 
head), the signification of that actual mdependence 
for which the tribe was distinguished, as it disengaged 
itself from any ruler, and attempted, on its OAvn ac- 
count, its march of conquest toward the west. The 
name becomes prominent with the family of Sheibani, 
viz., with Ebul Kheir Khan, as founder, in the fore- 
ground ; for, although Taimur may belong to the same 
tribe, still the Turkish state is more prominent than 
the OEzbeg. 

If T am not deceived, it appears to me, at leas^, that 
the (Ezbegs of to-day form a tribe, which, as a colony, 
highly inconsiderable in numbers, only increased after 
it had received into its bosom contingents of the 
various nomadic tribes passing from the north to the 
south. This assertion is, perhaps, bold, still the fol- 
lowing circumstances render it not impossible. 

1st. The already indicated diversity which shows 
itself between the (Ezbegs of Turkestan from Komul 

' * " aibbon ;" edited by Dr. W. Smith. London, 1862, page 296. Here it 
is justly remarked, " The (Ezbegs are the most altered from their primitive 
manners. 1st., — by the profession of the Mohammedan religion ; and, 2nd.,^ 
— by the possession of the cities and harvests of Great Bueharia. 



302 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

to the Sea of Aral, whereby the degree of resemblance 
which exists between the latter and those nomadic 
tribes hvmg in the vicuiity is not to be mistaken, who, 
induced by certam cu'cumstances, in which riches and 
religion play an important part, settled in towns, and 
are amalgamated with CEzbegs. 

2nd. Many names of branches and famihes of the 
(Ezbegs are common amongst the rest of the tribes of 
Central Asia. Thus, for example, we find the tribes 
Kungrat, Kiptchak, Naiman, Taz, Kandjigale, Kanli, 
Djelau', by which the thirty- two chief divisions of the 
(Ezbegs are named, figuring also among the Kirghis. 
The Turkomans and Karakalpaks can produce some, 
which, from the great importance the nomadic tribes 
attach to family names, certainly would not be the case 
if earlier mutual relations had not existed. We know 
little of their origin, little in regard to the time of 
their settlement. The opinion of Persian historians, 
that the QEzbeg power rose upon the ruins of the 
Taimur dynasty is, mdeed, correct, but forms no guide 
to the (Ezbegs themselves. The name only is ap- 
parent ; but who can tell us to which tribe that 
Turkish population professed to belong, which at a 
period long anterior to Taimur, and before Djingis, in 
the time of the Kharezmian prmces, Sahi Charezmian, 
and even further back m the thirteenth century, were 
established m the three Khanats? In Khiva I often 
heard of the brilliant period of ancient Urgendj, namely, 
before the inroad of the Mongolians, described as 



TURANIAN AND lEANIAN EACES. 303 

(Ezbeg. Was this merely national vanity, or had the 
Turks at that tinie at Khiva really called themselves 
QEzbegs? Turks were already settled during the 
Arabian occupation, as may be seen in the ancient his- 
tory of Bokhara, although not directly in the centre, 
certainly m the neighbourhood of the old Persian towns, 
in the time of the Samanides ; and it would be highly 
interestiQg to know to which type they really belonged. 
In the customs of the QEzbegs, also, much foreign ad- 
mixture has been introduced chiefly through Islam, and 
the restless manner of existence pursued by them ; but 
not nearly so much as with the Western Turks, who 
through the foreign elements that they receive are 
already quite denationahzed. The Qilzbegs are pious 
— one might say zealous — Musulmans. ]S[o where m 
Islam, Kashmir excepted, does the tendency to asceti- 
cism flourish more than here: a third of the uihabi- 
tants of a town are Ishan, Khalfa, Sofi, or aspirants to 
those holy titles, and nevertheless the doctrine of Mo- 
hammed has little lunited their customs m regard to 
all this. In Khiva, and in some parts of Chinese Tar- 
tary, they have remained truest to nomadic customs. 
They build houses, which are used as stables and 
granaries; but for dwellmg-places, they prefer always 
the raised tent in the court-yard; — building durable 
dwellings is scoffed at by the pure CEzbeg, and ridi- 
culed as even now usual only with the Sart (Persian 
aborigines). A general habit is marked out in the 
proverb : " Sart baisa tam salar — as soon as the Sart 



304 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

becomes rich, he builds a house," in contradistinction 
to the (Ezbeg, who procures rather a horse or arms. 
Also in food and clothmg but few refinements have 
crept m, the chief towns excepted. Whilst in the 
towns the Harem life is in full force, one finds in the 
country all CEzbeg women unveiled, for, to the great 
anger of the Mollah, they resist that restriction, to 
which their nature is averse. Ceremonies at burials, 
weddings, births, contain much of what is not only 
foreign to Islam, but even criminal. This false step 
is a striking contrast with the otherwise enthusiastic 
feehngs of Central Asiatics. Not less does the rigid 
adherence to a warlike existence, in which the (Ezbegs 
are distinguished from the rest of the established na- 
tions of Central and Western Asia, deserve our atten- 
tion. Agriculture and durable dwelhngs render people 
more peaceable; but this is not the case with the 
(Ezbegs, because they excel so many nomadic tribes 
in bravery. 

Chaeacter. 

However great the extent over which the diverse 
branches of Turkish tribes may be found, however 
variously the influence of strange elements may have 
acted upon their social relations, still the features of a 
common type of character cannot be denied ; — a picture 
in which more traces of analogy are to be found than in 
the physiognomy and other physical signs resj)ectively. 
The Turk is everywhere heavy and lethargic in his 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 305 

mental and corporeal emotions, therefore firm and sted- 
fast in his resolves ; not, perhaps, from any principle of 
life philosophy, but from apathy, and smcere aversion 
to everything which would alter his adopted position - 
This lends him an earnest and solemn aspect, which 
is so often extolled by European travellers. As upon 
the shores of the Bosphorus the Osmanh, in his keif^ 
can gaze for hours on the clear sky, while he only 
makes as much movement as will blow the blue wreaths 
of smoke from his pipe towards the yet bluer firma- 
ment; so the CEzbeg or the Kirghis can sit for hours, 
motionless, in the narrow tent, or in the immeasurably 
wide desert ; for, while the former turns his gaze upon 
the colours of the felt coverlet or carpet, already seen 
thousands of times, — the latter looks on the waving, 
curling quicksands, which are to amuse him. As those 
who go about briskly and nimbly, or even gesticulate, 
are only compassionated by the Osmanhs as hving 
proofs of partial msanity and misfortune; so each 
quick movement of the feet and hands is considered 
by the OEzbegs as highly unseemly. Indeed, when I 
called out to one of my Tartar fellow-travellers to save 
himself from some falling bales of goods by a side- 
spring, he exclaimed, mdignantly: "Am I, then, a 
woman, that I should disgrace myself by sprmging 
and dancing!" With this profound seriousness and 
marble-cold expression of countenance, we find every- 
where among the Turks a great inclination to pomp 
and magnificence; but this does not degenerate into 

20 



306 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

frivolity or fanfaronades, as is the case with the Per- 
sians. In Constantinople one often hears the proverb : 
*' Intellect is peculiar to Europe, riches to India, and 
splendour to the Ottoman." The solemn processions 
(alay) of the sultan and of the great nobles are alike 
celebrated in the East and the West, and the imposing 
exterior which is exhibited on such occasions is no- 
where to be found so faithfully reflected as among their 
fellow tribes in Central Asia. An Qllzbeg or Turko- 
man, when upon his horse, or seated in his tent at 
the head of his family, has the same proud bearing, 
the same self-consciousness of greatness and power. 
He is quite convinced that he is born to rule, and the 
foreign nations which surround him to obey, — just in 
the same way as the Osmanli thinks with regard to 
Bulgarians, Armenians, Kurds, and Arabians. His 
love for independence is boundless, and is also the chief 
cause why he cannot long remain under the chieftain 
whom he loves in many respects ; and he would rather 
command ten or twelve miserable highwaymen or ad- 
venturers than stand at the head of a well-equipped, 
elegant troop, who might, in common with himself, own 
a greater master. Coinciding with these traits of cha- 
racter, is also the predilection of the Turks for repose 
and inactivity; for, although diHgence and activity, 
according to our European notions, are not to be met 
with anywhere m Asia, still, work is not so much ab- 
horred, either by the Iranian or Semitic nations, as 
by the Turks, who consider hunting and war alone 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 307 

worthy of man. Upon them husbandry is only forcibly 
imposed, and is considered ignominious. A wondrous 
prosperity has never befallen Turkey. The peasant 
was always idle and careless ; the number of craftsmen 
limited. Officials had only wealth when the Janit- 
chars came back from their pillaging excursions, laden 
with treasures. 

In Central Asia, agriculture is exclusively in the 
hands of the Persian slaves; commerce and business 
with the Tadjiks, Hindoos, and Jews; for even the 
(Ezbegs, settled there for centuries, meditate robbery 
and war, and if they can procure no foreign enemy 
they attack each other mutually in bloody brother 
strife. 

As concerns intellectual capacit}'', I have found that 
the Turk is everywhere far inferior to other Asiatic 
nations, namely, the Iranian and Semitic; and that, 
through narrowness of mind, he loses those preroga- 
tives which his superiority in other respects would 
acquire for him. This weakness is denoted by the 
word Tiirkliik (Turkdom), of which Kabahk (coarse- 
ness), and Yogunluk (thickness), are synonyms. By 
Tiirkliik, one understands also rudeness and roughness 
in manners; and if here and there this defect is pal- 
liated by the appellation, Sadelik (simplicity), still, for 
the most part, they are subjoined to the Turkish name 
as insulting epithets. As the Osmanli is over-reached 
by the Armenian, Greek, and Arab ; so is the (Ezbeg 
baffled by the subtle and yielding Tadjik, and the no 



808 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

less crafty aiid avaricious Hindoo. Whether this is to 
be ascribed to a national defect or to an extreme non- 
chalance, it were hard to determine ; still, it is highly 
remarkable that the Turk in the far east, as well as in 
the immediate vicinity of the civilised western country, 
shuns meditation, and that nowhere are his attempts 
at wit particularly brilhant. This disadvantage is par- 
tially the reason that among the Turks more honesty, 
frankness and confidence, is to be met with than among 
the remaining nations of Asia. 

Tiirkllik, by which strangers understand the above- 
named fault, is often used by the Turks themselves as 
a mark of plainness, simphcity, and uprightness. The 
lights and shades of Tiirkllik have been at all times 
observable and discoursed on, whenever parallels are 
drawn between the character of the Turks and of other 
nations, especially the Persians. People praise the acute- 
ness, the refined manners of the latter ; but still, he who 
wants to find a faithful servant, an attached soldier, or 
an upright man, will always give the preference to 
the Turks. Therefore, we find in earliest times that 
foreign prmces liked to use Turkish troops ; they call 
them uito their country, and invest their ofiicers with 
the highest dignities; and as bravery, perseverance, 
and love of governing, is more innate in them than 
in any other Asiatic people, it is very easy to 
explain how they rise fi'om simple mercenaries to 
governors; and how they subjugated Iranian and Se- 
mitic peoples, from their home up to the Adriatic, 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACP:S. 309 

many of whom are still ruled by them. In my 
opuiion, it is not only superiority of physical powers 
which has sustained the Turkish dynasties upon foreign 
thrones, and still does so : this is also greatly ascribable 
to their superiority of character. They are unpohshed, 
and by nature wild, uncultivated, but seldom cruel out 
of mahce. They enrich themselves at the cost of their 
subjects, but again divide generously the collected 
treasures. They are severe towards their subordi- 
nates, but seldom forget the duties that they have to 
fulfil towards the latter, as patriarchal heads. In a 
word, in all deeds and works of the Turks a sort of 
kindness is perceptible, which is, perhaps, more to be 
ascribed to indolence and laisser-aller, than to a fixed 
purpose to do good; but still it works as a virtue, 
whatever may be its origin. 

Finally will we mention hospitality, in which the 
Turks are better versed than the Iranian and Semitic 
nations, and certainly for very simple causes. As 
acknowledged, hospitality is observed in proportion to 
the degree in which a nation advances from a nomadic 
condition to a settled manner of living, and as Asia 
is generally far more prominent in this virtue than 
Europe, so are the Turks, the majority of whom are 
incarnate nomads, to be distinguished from the rest 
of Asiatics, who, long settled there, rejoice in an older 
civilisation. This must be considered a mere sketch 
of the common character of the Turks. Concerning 
the gradation of difi'erent races, we find the Buruts 



310 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

wilder, more savage than the remaining nomadic 
fellow races.* They are more superstitious, but also 
less malicious than, for example, the Kirghis and 
Turkomans, because, without having wholly deserted 
Shamanism, they know but little of Islam; and it is 
well known that the weaker a nomadic people's ideas 
of that rehgion are, the fewer are its vices, and the more 
tractable are they with strangers. The Kirghis, on 
the contrary, are m the chief features of character less 
warlike, although they can easily make up their minds 
to undertake a baranta (pillaging expedition). They 
form the greater part of Turkish nomads, are for the 
most part devoted to a wanderiag hfe ; and whilst the 
Turkomans are in many places to be met with in a 
half settled state, for example, along the left shore of 
the Oxus, from Belkh as far as Tchardjuy, and in 
Khiva, one can only find very few examples among 
the Kirghis. They are easier to subjugate than 
other nomads, because they, as already stated, are 
more peaceable and less brave, still their colonization 
appears ahnost verging upon impossibility ; at least it 
will require a gigantic task of Russia, if such be her 
design. The Karakalpaks, through their remarkable 
simplicity, are often considered foolish and dull. They 
represent the idiot among Central Asiatic nations, and 
many droll anecdotes are composed at their cost. In 
bravery they are even inferior to the Kirghis; they 

* Eadloff also confirms tlie same in his Report upon the Acad. Imp. of 
Sciences of St. Petersb. See the bulletin of the society named, vol. vi., p. 418. 

\ 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 311 

have seldom appeared as conquerors, and are seldom 
employed by others even as mercenaries. As they 
occupy themselves chiefly in breeding cattle, and like 
best to sojourn in woody regions, they are called by 
the QEzbegs, ayik (bear). Still, activity, benevolence 
and faithfulness, are everywhere adjudged to them. 
The Turkomans are notorious among all the races of 
Central Asia as the most restless adventurers, and 
rightly; for not only there, but throughout the whole 
globe, hardly can a second nation be found of such a 
rapacious nature, of such restless spirit and untame- 
able licentiousness as these children of the desert. 
To rob, to plunder, to make slaves, is in the eye of 
the Turkoman an honourable business, by which he 
has hved for centuries. He considers those who think 
otherwise as stupid or mad, and yields in such a 
mamier to this passion that he often commences 
plundering his own tribe, indeed, often his own 
family, in case he is baulked in foreign forays. As a 
very weak apology, it may be argued that they in- 
habit the wildest and most savage countries, where 
even keeping of cattle gives only a scanty revenue : 
still the fruits of their detestable trade hardly ever 
alleviate their pressmg poverty, for they are just as 
dirty niggards, as avaricious, and starve often in the 
possession of riches as much as the poorest being. 
The Qilzbegs play the fashionable among their fellow- 
races in Turkestan. They are not a little proud of 
the education which, through Islamitisli civilisation. 



312 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

they obtained, and, starting from this point of 
superiority, wish to govern their nomadic brethren. 
Highly praiseworthy with them is their tenacious ad- 
herence to so many good points of their national 
character ; which, in other places, is too easily trans- 
formed and disgraced by Islam. With the (Ezbeg, 
there is, in spite of the hypocrisy and pretended holi- 
ness, which endeavour to spread themselves by Mo- 
hamedanism, still always very much honesty, upright- 
ness, and Turkish open-heartedness, m which qualities 
they are considerably to be distinguished from the re- 
probate and vicious Tadjiks, and are truly worthy to 
govern the latter. The (Ezbeg is, as far as personal 
knowledge has shown to me, the only Turk, from 
China to the Danube, who represents all the best side 
of the national character of the Turks. 



CHA.PTER XVIT. 

IRANIANS. 

The Turanian people, but especially the already men- 
tioned Turko- Tartaric tribes, have made themselves 
renowned in antiquity by their warlike disposition, and 
the wild untractable rudeness of then' habits; but the 
Iranians, in strong contrast with these, have always been 
known for the delicacy of their habits and a briUiant 
state of civilisation. The former have ever appeared 
among their neighbours as spoilers, destroyers, and 
plmiderers; the latter, on the contrary, as civilisers, 
propagators of the arts, and milder social relations. 

For it is not only the whole Mohamedan region 
which embraced Persian civilisation, but even we 
Europeans have borrowed much from these wonder- 
ful people, which, partly through the channel of the 
ancient Greek and Byzantine culture, partly by a later 
contact of the Western with the Eastern countries, 
as, for example, m the Crusades, has naturally always 
reached us second hand. Iran from time immemorial 
was the seat of civilisation, and in the entire record 
of the civilisation of mankmd we could in vain seek 
for a nation which, not-withstanding grand political 
revolutions, notmthstanding the copious foreign influx 
of the ancient spirit of its civihsation, could preserve 



314 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

SO long and faithfully the character of its national ex- 
istence as the Persian. There is a great difference 
between the doctrine of Zoroaster and that of the Ara- 
bian Prophet, and yet in the modern Persian almost 
all the features of the former character may be dis- 
covered, which the Greek historians trace out in the 
ancient Persian. In a hasty superficial glance this 
will not strike the eye so easily, for, according to out- 
ward appearance, it would be most difficult, amidst the 
agglomeration of tribes in the Persia of to-day, to find 
out the genuine Iranian. Yet a deeper insight would 
soon convince us of the truth of what has been said, 
and we should see that the Iranian has not only 
borrowed nothing in his customs and manner of think- 
ing from the Semitic and Turanian elements, which 
for more than a thousand years have endangered his 
nationality, but has rather exerted over the latter a 
powerful influence. The cradle of the Iranian nation, 
as asserted by a modern ethnographer, namely, the 
learned Russian traveller, M. de Khanikoff, in his Me- 
moirs, " Sur r Ethnographic de la Perse," is the Eastern 
portion of modern Persia, and especially Southern 
Sigistan or Sistan, and Khorassan, which stretches out 
to the north-east. It is not only ethnography, but 
also history, which accords with this assertion. As 
Sigistan, the native place of Rustem, and other cele- 
brated Iranian heroes of the classical age, is used as 
the scene of action by the narrators of fiction at this 
day, whenever they wish to describe something highly 
potent and ancient, so the old Belkh in Khorassan 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 315 

is declared to be the original source of religion and 
polite education, and Merv is pointed out as the spot 
where Adam received from the angel the first lesson 
in agriculture. In a word, whatever refers to the 
early ages is to be met with in the East, but never in 
the West. 

The Iranian race, on its dispersion, as has been 
already remarked in a foregoing paragraph, took a 
direction from East to West; the Turanian scattered 
from South to North, and in two directions, one to- 
wards the North-East the other towards the North- 
West. The emigration occurred in those very ancient 
ages, of which we can have hardly the faintest con- 
ception ; yet even here there are features of a common 
type which guide us like glittering stars through a 
night of uncertainty, and though the Iranian race 
has suffered much in modern times from the Turko- 
Tartar tribes, so superior to themselves in number, 
one can nevertheless detect in the groups lying scattered 
around, the separate rings of the former chain; pre- 
cisely also as one recognises in the Western remnants, 
though m contmual contact with Turanian and Semitic 
elements, the avowed Mede, so in the Eastern rem- 
nants one may recognise the primitive genuine Iranian. 

This preceding opinion formed from personal convic- 
tion, and every one who carefully observes the Persian of 
modern Iran and Central Asia must perceive the same, 
receives a further confirmation in the learned inves- 
tigations of our arrow-headed writings ;* and it is 

* Ritter, West Asia. Vol. ii. p. 86. 



316 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

chiefly the Iranian catalogue of people ui the arrow- 
headed writmgs at Persepolis which enumerates all 
the nations of Iran, starting from the centre of the 
empire, Persepohs, and contmuing in a west and 
eastern direction. Of course nothing positive will be 
perceived in these with reference to higher or lower 
antiquity concernmg the physiognomical distinctions 
of one or another branch of the families, but- that a 
substantial difference existed already in the early ages 
is hardly to be doubted. " The Semitic influences m 
the West," says Fr. Spiegel, " began very early during 
the existence of the Assyrian and Babylonian kmgdom, 
and lasted through the whole Achoemenian period. 
After the overthrow of the Achoemenian kingdom 
occurred the amalgamation with Greeks as well as 
Semitics, and so forth."* As is rightly observed, for 
m the Southern provinces of Farsistan, Laristan, and 
Luristan, where the contact of the Iranian and Semitic 
elements from the earhest ages has remained undis- 
turbed, we find in the person of the modern Persian 
the same physical characteristics that were described 
to us ia these people by Herodotus, and later Greek 
authors. The spare form, which is more natural to 
the Western than to the Eastern, strongly reminds 
one of the principal feature of the Arabian, who is 
represented by Unsemitic tribes as nahif^ haggard, 
and thin, whilst the Turk is kesif^ blunt, and stout, 
the genume Persian zarif^ noble, and elegant. 

* " The Etlmographical Position of the Iranian tribes." Ausland, 1866, 
No. 36, p. 853. 



TUEANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 317 

The Semitic elements have commenced in south and 
east Persia, from Benderbushir until near to Kirman- 
sah, and have especially left behind with the uihabi- 
tants of the towns perceptible traces, which strike the 
eye all the more when we compare the physiognomy 
and stature of a Sigistanian with those of an Isfahanian. 
This is best perceptible in the Ghebrs (fire worshippers), 
who sojourn among the West Iranians, and are very 
different from them. As one misses among them the 
predominating numbers of thin, slender forms, so 
also one seldom meets with the narrow chin or the 
thm, small nose. The Ghebr, in. company with the 
Khafi, will certainly strike us less than m the midst of 
a group of Isfahanians ; and since the Ghebrs, who are 
only sparingly scattered in the west of Persia, are to 
be considered as the remnants of the primitive Iranian 
people, having remained most pure from the mixture 
of foreign elements, one can assert with certamty that 
the distinction of physiognomy between East and West 
Iranian must always have existed. The Greek his- 
torians of the Alexandrian campaign, who came in 
contact with the Eastern as well as the Western nations 
of the then great Iranian kingdom, have disregarded 
in their descriptions the ethnographical side of the 
question, which is of the highest importance in our 
studies. In the same way we gather but little infor- 
mation from the sculptures which descend from tlie 
Sassanides. The figures on the bas rehefs of Nakshi 
Rustem, Nakshi Redgeb, and, near at hand, of Kaze- 
run, may furnish faithful representations of the former 



318 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

Persian, but of the nationality of the same there is 
no accurate account; and however wide the opinion 
may extend with regard to stature and features, these 
appear rather to belong to the West Iranian than to 
the East Iranian, for the striking resemblance to the 
modern inhabitants of West Iran must be apparent 
to the eye of every one. Kecent European travellers 
only cause us to observe the existing difference. 

So we find that Gareia Silva Figeroa,* who in 1627 
visited Persia on a diplomatic mission, abeady calls 
our attention to the difference between the East and 
West Iranian, though without entermg into any de- 
tails of the physical characteristics. Chardin, who 
travelled through this country in 1664-1677, is more 
explicit, for he says that the Ghebrs, m whom he per- 
ceives the remnant of the ancient Persian, are of a 
disagreeable exterior, clumsy figure, coarse skin, and 
dark complexion, and form a strong contrast to the 
present inhabitants of West Iran, who have a mixture 
of the Chirkassian and Georgian blood in their veins. 
This opinion is also positively expressed by Peter 
Angelus (Labrosse), a contemporary of the former, 
in his " Gazophylacium hnguge Persarum," published 
in 1684, under the article, " Georgians." f 

Since, therefore, no doubt can remam about the dis- 
tinction between the East and West Iranians, we wUl 
brmg the divergence to a common point of view, and 

* Khanikoff's "Memoire sur FEtliiiographie de la Perse." Paris, 1866, 
page 45. 

t Above cited work, page 47. 



TURANIAN AND IRANIAN RACES. 



319 



then represent the separate branches or members of 
the t'svo powerful races in such a way as we observed 
the same on our journeys, not leaving unnoticed the 
observations of our predecessors with reference to this 
subject- 



FlGURE. 



Hi'. AD. 



Eyks 



Nose, 



West Iranian, 



Mouth. 



Haik. 



In surpassing numbers, 
though not slim, yet of a 
haggard and thin form ; of 
a light, supple movement, 
and graceful demeanour ; 
but very rarely very thin or 
very fat, or strikingly tall 
or very short. 

Oval, narrow, and mid- 
dling high forehead, flat- 
tened at the temples ; oblong 
skull and narrow chin. 



Large, black, with long 
upper lid, and arched eye- 
brows. 

Long, thin, often arched. 



M oderate- sized ; percep- 
tibly thin compressed lips. 

Black, of a thick and pow- 
erful growth ; particularly 
long, thin beard. 



b. East Iranian. 



Of a somewhat thick-set 
figure ; bones of a powerful 
and large construction, but 
also clumsy in movement, 
although far less awkward 
than the Turanians. 



Much less oval than a, 
almost to be called round ; 
a wider forehead, also larger 
jaw bones, and more fleshij 
cheeks ; the chin, however, 
oblong, and less pointed than 
the Turanians. 

Black, oblong cut, close 
and thick eyebrows. 



Less long, sometimes thick 
at the root, but never so 
stumpy and wide as the Tu- 
ranians. 

Often wide and thick lips. 



Black, of thick growth ; 
beard thicker, but less long 
than the West Iranian. 



320 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

In consequence of this diversity of the physical ex- 
ternals, there is also a distinction not to be mistaken 
in the moral properties of these two races. The East 
Iranian, although far superior to the Turks in vigour 
of mind and body, is far inferior to the Persian of 
modern Iran; and it appears as if the stamp of the 
mental superiority of the latter was imprinted in the 
symmetrical formation of their limbs and elegance of 
their features. 

East Iranians. 

We can form the following subdivisions or branches 
according to the geographical position of their north- 
easterly extension? 1. Sigistani or Khafi. 2. Tchihar 
Aymak. 3. Tadjik and Sart; each of which counts 
many subdivisions or degrees. As in our progress 
towards the West we lose, in the Turanian race, the 
Mongolian character in physiognomy more and more, 
and find m the single branches a continually increas- 
ing mixture of races; in the same way we discover, 
also, that the East Iranians become less Iranian, and 
more Turanian, the farther they remove from the 
mother land. The relation that exists between the 
Burnt and the pure-blooded Anatolian, the same is to 
be found between the Sigistani and the Tadjik of Kash- 
gar. The latter may, indeed, be called the old inhabi- 
tant of that region, yet no one will dispute that the 
Turanian elements, surrounding him in such numbers, 
have strongly influenced him. 



IRANIANS. 321 

1. SiGISTANI OR KhAFI; 

Or that Shiite population of East Iran which inha- 
bit the eastern part of Iran, from the southern borders 
of modern Khorassan to beyond Bihrdjan. They 
are as frequently called Khafi as Sigistani, as the 
principal mass occupy Khaf and its neighbourhood, 
Ruy, Tebbes, and Bhirdjan; whilst the ancient, clas- 
sical Sigistan, more traversed m modern times by 
Afghans and hordes of Beloochees, offers to the peace- 
able Persian but a very insecure retreat. Judging by 
historical accounts of Merv, which, m the Vendidad, is 
enumerated as the thirteenth locality under the name 
Mun, as the third spot marked, one might easily con- 
clude that the inhabitants of modern Khorassan, espe- 
cially of the northern part, might be reckoned with the 
East Iranians. This was naturally more or less the 
case before the Arabian occupation; but at this day 
the people of Khorassan are so powerfully intermingled 
with Turco- Tartar elements, that the genuine East 
Iranian type only begias on the other side of the south- 
ern rocky chain, behind Shehri No. Without being 
furnished with an especial ethnographical representa- 
tion, the traveller will easily perceive that the Khafi 
(we preserve the appellation which is usual in the 
country), although brown in complexion, is to be dis- 
tinguished from the Isfahani; for example: in that 
his complexion is more olive-brown, whilst that of the 
latter, tanned by the sun, appears more of a dark 

21 



322 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

brown. In the second place, the afore-named differ- 
ence in stature and features, but especially the less 
fiery eye, will strike him. And in the third place, he 
will miss, in intercourse, that sprightliness and acti- 
vity which he meets everywhere among the lively 
West Iranians under the same situation of climate. 
It can hardly be doubted, that many will be surprised 
that this relative difference should exist between such 
tribes as those in question, — of common origin, lan- 
guage and religion, for hundreds of years, nay, for 
thousands of years, of one and the same pohtical con- 
nection. This circumstance would be with difficulty 
explained through an analagous case in other lands. 
We shall, however, recognise the cause directly, when 
we take into nearer view the following points : — 

1st. The whole portion named of East Iran has been 
spared from all times the influence of the Semitic as 
well as Turanian nations, since the first extended them- 
selves only toward the western side of the desert; the 
last, on their march westward, only at intervals passed 
from the high road, Merv, Nishabur, and Rei to the 
southern slope of the Djagatay Hills. 2nd. East 
Iran herself, in an earlier period, remained separated 
through the great desert, when the Shiite sect, the 
chain of solid union, embraced the Persian population 
of Iran; and, despite all the wildest sect-hatred, the 
traffic now is as great with the Sunnite Afghans and 
Heratis as with their western brethren. It is true that, 
despite all the fatigue of travel in the desert, despite 



lEANIANS. 323 

all fear of the Beloochees, caravans go annually from 
Shiraz, Isfahan, over Yezd, Tebbes up to holy Meshed. 
Yet Khaf and Bihrdjan, situated south-east, are never 
touched upon; and then, as now, it was always the 
case. In the mutual intercourse of nations, language 
assumes foreign elements easiest and preserves them 
the longest. The Persian dialect of modern Iran is 
overloaded with Arabian- Turkish words. Fars m the 
south, as well as Mazandran in the north, is in this 
only a httle distinctive. In East Iran, nevertheless, 
the borrowed richness of language is certainly less; 
and we find m much that Persian m which Firdusi, 
with a premeditated rejection of Arabic, wrote his 
great epic. In what concerns the use of old forms 
and words, the Persian of Bokhara is of that character, 
and especially we may name the Tadjiks in the first 
place ; yet these last have too much lexicographical and 
grammatical material borrowed from the Turks; and 
this circumstance it is that has produced the convic- 
tion in our minds, that in East Iran the 'purest and 
oldest Persian is spoken. 

As for the language, I should be incluied to cite 
the Khafi or the Sigistani as the primitive tongue of 
all the Iranians, yet, m regard to their ethnographical 
position m relation to the whole Iranian race, I would 
not venture to attribute that position to them in which 
the Buruts stand to the whole Turko-Tartar race. 
What branch of the East Iranian families may be the 
primitive is one of those questions to which no one 



324 SKETCHES or CENTRAL ASIA. 

could deny a high degree of importance, yet is the 
reply much more difficult as to the Turko- Tartar race. 
For the appearance of the latter on the stage of his- 
torical events is comparatively fresh, whilst the former 
stepped forward in a period of which we can hardly 
form a conception. We must, therefore, again repeat 
that the Sigistani or Khafi are named as the first among 
the East Iranians, only in consequence of their geogra- 
phical position, and not from mduction on the more 
primitive character of their branch. 

TcHiHAE Aymak.* 
These are the four people or races which, from the 
time of the conquest of Herat, have been thus named 
by the Mongols. They consist of the Timuri, Tei- 
meni, Firuzkuhi, and Djemshidi. The whole are of 
Iranian origm and Persian speech, and enough so to 
distmguish them from the Hezareh,f who, though 



* Aimak is a Mongolian word, and signifies a people. , 

t Klianikoff seems to be in error when lie considers the Hezareh, as formerly 
CEzbegs ; viz., as the Berlas tribe. " Memoire sur la Patrie Meridionale de I'Asie 
Centrale." Paris, 1842, pp. 112, 138. I must against this cite the following 
arguments : — 1st. Their own assertion, — that they were the remainder of the 
army of Djingis, and, moreover, from the statement of Abul Fazl of a troop of 
Mangu Khan. 2ndly. That a portion, now named the Gvbi Hezareh, which 
retired into the hills in the .neighbourhood of Herat, and has been spared by 
the Persian elements, speaks a Mongolian dialect, as is proved by Von der 
Oabelenz, in a periodical of the German Asiatic Society, — vol. xx. p. 326. ; 
and Baber affirms that in his time many Hezareh spoke Mongolian. 3rd. 
There is nowhere among the ffizbegs such a decided Mongolian type to 
be found as among the Hezareh, which is the more striking, because the first 
remain near their old home in more compact masses, while the latter have 
dwelt under a foreign climate and foreign elements. 



IRANIANS. 325 

they speak Persian, yet show their pure Mongohan 
type, their Turanian origin without a doubt. On 
the spot itself there is but a confused understanding 
as to its name Tchihar Aymak, because many appro- 
priate to themselves the same, and are again opposed 
by others. Our travellers have most contradictory 
statements concernmg these races, and especially this 
erroneous idea, that the Hezareh are to be reckoned 
among the Tchihar Aymak, who appeared at the 
Southern part of Central Asia, at a time when the 
latter were already indicated by the name in question. 
During my abode of six weeks in the town and 
neighbourhood of Herat, I devoted considerable at- 
tention to this question. My knowledge is grounded, 
not so much on hearsay touching the race, as on their 
physiognomical characteristics, which are incontestably 
the best proof. The Timuri^ or the Sunnite Persians 
of East Iran, dwell now partly on the Western boun- 
dary of Herat, as Gurian, Kuh'sun, &c., and partly also 
m the villages and towns situated to the east of Iran, 
from Turbet Sheikh Djam as far as Khaf. ' In the first- 
named region they constitute exclusively an united 
population, m the latter they are only to be found 
sporadic, for although two hundred years ago the 
greater number were Sunnites, yet the sect-hatred 
of the Shiites converted them partly by force, partly 
drove them into the neighbouring Sunnite city of 
Herat. In consequence of the frequent confusion 
of boundary, for Herat has endured in ancient and 



326 SKETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. 

modern times more than forty sieges, one can easily 
imagine what an amalgamation has been produced 
by these continued movements among the sohtary 
branches which approach so nearly to East Iran, and 
it is truly a wonder that the Timuri are still to be dis- 
tinguished from the Shiites of East Iran. 

The remarkable characteristics are first, that among 
them more people are to be found short and thick- 
set than among the Sigistanis ; also as regards colour, 
the latter are, on an average, of an olive brown, and 
with dark black hair, whilst among the former a whiter 
complexion, with chesnut brown hair, is not uncom- 
mon. As I have said, the united number of the 
Timuri on the East Iran boundary amomits now in its 
fullest extent to one thousand families, because the 
great majority dwell in Herat. 

The Teimeni are hardly in any respect to be dis- 
tinguished from the latter dwelling in the Northern 
and Southern parts of the so-named Djolghei Herat, 
from Kerrukh to Sebzewar : only a small part has ex- 
tended as far as Ferrah, and is named by the Afghans 
Parsivan (Farszeban, speaking Persian). Since the 
Afghan rule has taken place in the Western valleys 
of the Parapamisian mountains, many attempts have 
been made to establish in the midst of the Persian 
population Afghan colonies, yet until this day all have 
failed, for the discord and strife which have wasted 
this neighbourhood for centuries still continue; each 
member of the Tchihar Aymak knowing no greater 



IRANIANS. 327 

enemy than the Afghan. In consequence of this cir- 
cumstance the Teimeni, although an agricultural 
people, are of wild, warHke nature, and there is no 
longer any trace of that spirit of wisdom, which in 
the time of the descendants of Taimur, viz., Sultan 
Husein Mirza, animated them. 

The Sumiite Persians of former times contended in 
poetry, learnuig, and music, with the Shiite confederates 
ill the West; at the present time they are raw barba- 
rians in comparison "vvith the latter. 

FiruzhuM is the name of the httle people that dwell 
on the steep hill, north-east of Kale No, and from then' 
inaccessible situation afflict the whole neighbourhood 
with robbery and plunder. To the traveller are nar- 
rated the most gloomy stories of Kale No on the sum- 
mit of the mountain, and the fortified places of Derzi 
Kutch and Tchekseran are considered the same as the 
robber nests of the Bakhtiari and Luri m the environs of 
Isfahan. As all dwellers in mountains remain distinct 
from their nearest kindred in the valleys, so is this the 
case also between the Firuzkuhi and the remaining 
Aymaks, and one could almost name them the Gileki 
and Mazemderanis of East Persia. On the first glance 
they appear to have much resemblance with the 
Hezareh. It is even asserted that they came forth from 
them, yet neither has their formation of the forehead 
and of the chin, nor the complexion and figure of the 
body,— ^a decided Turanian character ; and although it 
might present a strong mixture, 3"et does the Iranian 



828 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

element prevail, for, besides that they all speak Persian, 
the names of their dwelling-places and khans are pure 
Persian words. 

They inhabited those hills from immemorial time, 
and though Taimur settled them by force m Mazen- 
deran, they soon returned back to their old hilly 
home, and have lived since that time in constant war- 
fare with their neighbours, partly supporting them- 
selves from their scanty breed of cattle and tillage; 
partly also from robbery and plunder, which they per- 
petrate on the caravans upon the road to Maymene, or 
upon the scattered tents of the Djemshidi. Their total 
number hardly amounts to eight thousand families. 

The Djemshidi^ the only tribe of the East Iranians 
living exclusively in a nomadic state, inhabited from 
time immemorial the shores of Murgab, whither they, 
accordmg to their own statement, settled out of Sigis- 
tan m the time of Djemshid, from whom they derive 
their descent. This national myth cannot be consi- 
dered quite true, yet is it incontestable, that among all 
Iranians who now inhabit Central Asia the Djemshidi 
have the most striking resemblance with the Sigistani^ 
which is so much the more to be wondered at, because 
these for so long a time have led a settled life, whilst 
those have led a nomadic ; and the vast influence which 
the diiference of the two ways of life has on the develop- 
ment of the body needs hardly be mentioned. Kha- 
nikoff thinks they approach rather the Tadjil^s ; but I 
cannot coincide in this view, because, in the first place, 



IRANIANS. 329 

the Djemshidi is thinner; secondly, has a longer face 
and a far more pointed chin than the Tadjik; and in 
the thh-d place, their language, as well m form as in 
copiousness, agrees much more with the Persian dialect 
of East Iran than mth that of Central Asia. As to 
what concerns then' method of life, they are the only 
Iranians who, in every respect, have taken much from 
the Turanians ; that is to say, from the Salor and 
Sarik Turkomans living in their neighbourhood; 
whilst the other half-nomadic Aymak used a long 
Afghan tent, which here is named the Tent of Abra- 
ham, one sees among the Djemshidi that round, 
conical tent of the Tartars surrounded with felt and 
a reed matting ; their clothing also and food is Tur- 
komanish ; mdeed, even in then* occupation, they copy 
these last. For when a flourishing position, that is, 
abundance of horses and arms befalls them, they are 
just such fearful robbers of mankind as the children of 
the desert. They enjoy also the reputation of the best 
riders and warriors amongst all Aymak, and abide, partly 
in service at Herat or Maymene, partly in league with 
one or other of the Turkoman tribes, when the im- 
mediate question among them is a large tchapao (raz- 
zia). In consequence of this aforesaid comiection they 
were transported to the banks of the Oxus by force by 
Allah Kuh Khan, from Khiva, after he had conquered 
them with the allied Sariks. They remained more 
than twelve years there; a fruitful place, which was 



330 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

assigned to them as their new home, and rendered 
them well to do. Yet the longmg for the poorer, but 
old home-like hills, was soon felt by them, and availing 
themselves of the confusion which a war of the Khivians 
with the Turkomans called forth, they packed up every- 
thing quickly and fled, without fearing the danger of 
pursuit, across Hezaresp, Tchardjuy, Maymene, back to- 
wards the town of Murgab. In their march one thou- 
sand Persian slaves joined them, who, in consequence of 
their escape, obtained their freedom ; but, having reached 
Moorgab, were again taken in a treacherous mamier 
and sold in Bokhara. Although the Djemshidi among 
all the Iranian races of the East, as well as of the 
-West, have most truly retained the warlike spuit of 
old Persia, yet they are in proportion less rough in 
their customs and intercourse with strangers than the 
neighbourmg Turkomans, with whom they have had 
relations for a long time; and, notwithstanding his 
wild exterior, the Djemshidi, even in the lowest class, 
is polite in word and mamier : — the light and shade of 
the Iranian character are not recognisable in him, and 
we must not be surprised if m the customs of this 
nomadic people we meet with the most lively marks 
of the pre-Islamite time. Islam with them has taken 
still less root than among the other Turanian nomads, 
and the greater part of them use it as a veil, under 
which lurk concealed many features of the religion of 
Zoroaster; thus, for instance, fire among them is in 
higher estimation than among the Tadjiks; the door 



lEANIANS. 331 

of the tent is always facing the East, and the idea of 
the good and evil spirit is so universal that the lowest 
class of the people, especially the women, when a sheep 
or goat is slaughtered, never neglect to throw certain 
parts of the animal which are considered by other 
nomads as dehcacies, to the bad spirit as kende^ "un- 
clean;" and they are only eaten by the dogs. It is 
worthy of remark, that among the ruins of Martchah 
the same stories are in circulation, as among the Yomuts 
of the old remnants of the ruins at Meshdi Misrian. 
Martchah was in olden times the Kaaba of the whole 
region until the wicked Turkomans appeared there, 
and destroyed the whole. 

This is all that I can say in respect to the Tchihar 
Aymaks, I can, notmthstandmg all inquiries, learn 
nothing of their name before their last appellation. 
According to all probability they were reckoned among 
the Tadjiks, yet now they are distinct from these latter, 
and form the second gradation of the Iranian race in 
its extension to the North-East. 

Tadjiks, 

As the remnants of the Persian population of Cen- 
tral Asia are called, whom we meet in their largest 
numbers in the Khanat of Bokhara and in Bedakhshan. 
But there are, besides, many settled in the cities of 
Khokand, Kliiva, Chinese Tartary, and Afghanistan; 
although here and there little deviation in their physiog- 
nomical outward developments are observable, in con- 



332 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

sequence of the different climacteric and social relations 
under which the Tadjiks hve. And thus, for example, 
the Tadjiks of Bokhara and the Afghanistan to^vns 
have much more resemblance one "with another than 
the former with the Bedakhshanis, or the confederate 
races of Chinese Tartary ; notwithstanding, the leadiug 
features of one common t}^De are generally observable 
among them. They are usually of a good middle 
height, broad, powerful frame of bones, and especially 
wide shoulder bones. Then* countenance, the Iranian 
type of which immediately strikes the eye at first sight, 
is more oblong than that of the Turks; but by the 
wide forehead, thick cheeks, thick nose, and large 
mouth, we soon perceive that this most eastern branch 
of the Iranian family has much that is heterogeneous, 
that is to say, Turanian, m its stamp of countenance 
as well as in the formation of body, and is in nowise to 
be regarded as the primitive type of the Iranian race, 
as M. de Khanikoff imaoines. 

Accorduig to the statements of the Yendidad and 
Greek historians, it is no longer matter of doubt that 
the native country of the modern Tadjik was ui those 
celebrated regions of ancient times, Bactria and Sog- 
diana, — the most ancient seat of Iranian civilisation, 
the cradle of the religion of Zoroaster, and the source 
of the heroic legends of Persia. We must own, that 
even in. the most ancient tunes they were inhabitants 
of tliis region, for the ancient Khorassan, which stretched 
far into Chinese Tartary, was, as is proved by topo- 



IRANIANS. 333 

graphical nomenclature, founded and occupied by Ira- 
nian colonies. And who is there that does not perceive 
the continuous stream of Scythian-Turkish elements 
which has overflowed Central Asia, from the valleys 
of the Altaic Mountains, that officina gentium^ from 
700 B.C. to400 A.D.? 

I^o country which was situated along the chief route 
of these migrations could remam unafi*ected by the m- 
termino-hno- of foreion blood : and as the northern half 
of Persia, the modern district of Maymene, Andchoi, 
and the western declivities of the Parapamisian Moun- 
tains could preserve, but m a slight degree, the pri- 
mitive unity of race ; so also was it equally impossible 
to the Iranians of Transoxiana. The mhabitants only 
of the mountains of Bedakhshan, namely, the Vakhani 
(in which name the learned writer of the article, 
" Central Asia," in the Quarterly Review^ Ju.ly — Sep- 
tember, 1866, believes that he has detected the origin 
of the Greek, 6^os*)^ can have a greater claim, from 
then' less accessible homes, to unity of race; for all 
the Feizabadisf whom I have seen have more mdehble 
marks of the Iranian type than the Tadjiks : even their 
very language is freer of Turanian words. And since 
one can imagine that a people, though in strictest re- 
tirement, can preserve for centuries its primitive type, 

* From Vah (the river Vali), as the Oxus is called in Bendehesh, may 
also be derived the modern name, Vachan, Vacks as-ird, and Vas-ab. 

t During my sojourn in Kerki I lived with ten Feizabadis (Feizabad is the 
capital of Bedakhshan) many days in one and the same house. It was a depu- 
tation returning from Bokhara, where they wished to raise the Emir to the 
place of their lately -banished prince. 



334 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

the Yakhaiii alone, and not the Tadjiks in general, 
must be considered the truest remnants of the ancient 
East Iranian, 

As regards the appellation Tadjik, I have always 
found that those concerning whom we are speaking 
never use it themselves willingly ; for, if this does not 
sound exactly in then' ears as a term of reproach, 
people are yet accustomed to understand by it that 
expression of contempt with which the OEzbeg con- 
querors regard the subdued aborigmes. By the word 
Tadjik, the Tartar population of Turkestan understand 
a man without warhke disposition , of a covetous, avari- 
cious nature;* with crafty and vaunting ideas; in a 
word, everything that stands in opposition to CEzbeg 
frankness, sunphcity, and uprightness. These relations 
are, moreover, to be found everywhere between Tura 
nian conquerors and the subjugated Iranians ; for as the 
latter, in Persia, are far inferior to the Turks in mental 
endowments, so is this also the case in Central Asia. 
And Bokhara has only become the head quarters of 
Central Asiatic civilisation, because here, from the 
earhest ages, existed the overwhelming numbers of 
the Tadjik population ; who, contmumg their previous 
exertions in mental culture from the pre-Islamite times, 
notwithstanding the oppression of foreign power, have 
civilised then' conquerors. As in the earliest ages, 

* Slaves prefer rather ten years in the house of an CEzbeg than five years in 
the house of a Tadjik, because the last, who is considered a man without con- 
science, makes use of them in every possible way. 



lEANIANS. 335 

after the reception of the Islam faith, all the celebrities 
in the field of religious knowledge and belles lettres were 
mostly Tadjiks ; so, to-day, one still meets in Bokhara, 
Khokand, and Kashgar, the most conspicuous Mollahs 
and most celebrated Ishans- At the court of Bok- 
hara, notwithstanding the (Ezbeg origin of the prince, 
the chief ministers are always Tadjiks ; nay, even in 
the rude (Ezbeg government of Khiva, the Mehter 
(Secretary of State), as an officer whose qualifica- 
tions must be of the highest order, is chosen inva- 
riably from the Persian population of the place. It 
is truly wonderful how the Tadjiks, notwithstanding 
more than a century of co-existence with the Q^zbegs, 
are to be distinguished from the latter, not only in 
their individual nature but in their habits. A proverb 
says, " Look at the (Ezbeg on horseback, — the Tadjik 
in his house ;" for, the same care that the one bestows 
on his steed, arms, saddle and horse, the other spends 
on his house and attire. However poor the Tadjik, 
he will yet pass for a man of more substance than he 
is, and will always appear rich and great in public, 
although sparing and abstemious m his family circle. 
Nor is his conversation less choice : the courteous ex- 
pressions, the compliments of which he makes use, 
sound somewhat Tartarian, to ears accustomed to 
Persian refinement ; yet, in contrast with the (Ezbeg, 
he is to be considered an accomplished gentleman. 
Attuned by nature to peaceful occupations, the Tad- 
jiks are devoted everywhere considerably to tillage. 



336 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. 

commerce, and industrial pursuits, as they hate war; 
and if they are compelled to handle weapons, they are 
rarely valiant, but frequently cruel. They are also 
defective in that national feehng that strikes one so 
forcibly among the (Ezbegs. This has best shown 
itself in recent occurrences in Tashkend. In a letter 
from General Kryjanovsky from the town above-named, 
(Ausland, December 4th, 1866, H. 1159), we see 
that, among the diversified population of that place, 
the Sarts were the first who drew near, m a friendly 
fashion, to their conquerors, and certauily rendered 
very readily considerable help in hard labours of paci- 
fication ; and that probably to the dislike of all the 
(Ezbegs, who certainly took no part m the pretended 
petition to the Russian Government. 

The Tadjiks hold well together, but this is more 
from the mutual support of one with another in an op- 
pressed race than a special efibrt for Tadjik public 
interest; and if they wish to distinguish themselves, 
which is only the case in Bokhara, then they are in 
the habit of showing with pride their Arabian descent. 
The emptiness of this last vaunt Khanikoff has shown 
sufficiently. He derives the word Tadjik from Tadj 
(crown), a head-dress, which the old fire worship- 
pers had, and the Ghebrs wear even now y — the name 
Tadjik arose from it, by which the adherents of the 
teaching of Zoroaster were called at that time — 
before Mohamedanism, or else it was a term of 
their o^wn adoption; for the word Tadji in Huzvari, 



lEANTANS. 337 

and Tazi in Persian, which signifies Arab, has with the 
first no connection. It is remarkable that the word 
Tadjik is even found in Western Asia. There are 
Armenians who call Turks as well as Arabs, i.e.^ 
Mohamedans, Tadjik^ but only among themselves pri- 
vately. And it seems to me to be constantly a nick- 
name affixed by the oppression of their tyrannic rulers. 
Since I have found this universal among the Armenians 
of Asia Minor, it appears to me that they did not wish 
to express by it only Mohamedans, but also the ad- 
herents of a strange religion, and thiat this, accordmg 
to all appearance, old word, has been transmitted later 
to the Arabians by the old inhabitants of Persia, with 
whom the Armenians, under the Sassanides, were in 
contact. That the name Tadjik has been missing 
among both Arabic and Persian authors of the first 
century, after the entrance of Islam, but existed early 
m Central Asia, the U'igur MS. (Kudatku Bilig the 
lucky knowledge) best shows. This bears the date of 
462 Heg., and we find there the word Tadjik often 
quoted in opposition to Turk. The above-named work, 
which Jaubert has mentioned in the Asiatic Journal^ 
1825, is an Uigur version, or rather rifacimento of the 
Chinese original. The Turks themselves have always 
called the Transoxanian aborigmes Sart, a word of 
which I know not the origin. M. de Khanikoff mistakes 
when he supposes that this is only the case in Khiva, 
for he must know that in the Russian Army the 
Persian population of conquered Tashkend at a later 

22 



338 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

period was enrolled under the name of Sart, and they 
were so called in all Khokand. Also the above- 
named General Krijanovsky speaks of Tadjik and Sart 
as of two different races. As to this word Sart, the 
derivation of which is wholly unknown to me, it is a 
term of which the famous Mir Ali Shir, m the time of 
Sultan Husem Mirza Baikera, makes use in a treaty 
on the Persian and Turkish language. The latter, he 
always calls the Sart tili (Sart language), and not the 
Tadjik tili. Sart is hence legally used for the Turkish 
appellation of Tadjik. Here and there (Ezbegs busy 
themselves in making a distinction between Sart and 
Tadjik ; but I cannot agree with this view, although I 
will not conceal the fact, that the Sarts seen in mass 
diifer greatly in some physiognomical pecuharities from 
the Tadjiks. They are, for mstance, more slender- 
built, have a longer face, and, moreover, a higher fore- 
head than the Tadjiks ; but it must also be mentioned 
as a quahfication of the above, that they formed frequent 
alhances with the free Persian slaves of Central Asia, 
which the Tadjiks never or very seldom did. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 

Tartae muse I (Ezbeg Melpomene ! This will to 
many somid passing strange! That poetiy should 
exist in the oldest spots of rudeness and barbarism — 
that persons in those regions where robbery, murder, 
and spoliation rage most, should busy themselves with 
literature, may to many seem strange ; but yet such a 
notion would be incorrect. The East was at all times 
the seat of poetic enthusiasm, and the more the social 
relations retain the stamp of olden time, that is, the 
nearer civilisation is to its infancy, the more general 
is the inclination to poetry and fables, the more pas- 
sionate the sound of forced hyperboles and enthu- 
siasm. 

That the dwellers in a Kirghis tent are more dis- 
posed to poetry than the members of a pohshed society 
in Paris and London, must surprise no one. Among 
us it is only over a certain age that poetry indicates 
herself more or less ; there are only certain individuals 
that linger round the Castahan fountains. In Central 
Asia those bowed down by age, as well as youthful 
lovers, passionately affect poetry, the warrior equally 



340 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. 

with the shepherd, the priest as well as the layman, — 
each one attempts the composition of poetry or devises 
tales ; and if this attempt is probably not successful in 
every instance, still, nevertheless, the habit of even 
listening to the compositions of others may be said to 
be universal. 

Since literature in the East is in close connection 
with religion, we must then divide the literary pro- 
ductions of Central Asia at the commencement into 
two parts. 

1st. The Literature of Islam or the Settled Nations. 

2nd. The Literature of the Nomadic or Wandering 
Tribes. 

This distinction dates from that time when, with the 
entrance of Islam, foreign literary conceptions became 
universally dilFused, which, without retaining at the 
present time any special national character, are in vogue 
among the different followers of Islam. Poetry, for this 
is the essence of that literature, is always the same 
now with Arabs, Turks, Persians, and Central Asiatics. 
Vainly would one seek there the stamp of a national 
mint ; it is everywhere the same sprightly imagery of 
the poets ; everywhere the same metaphors, parables ; 
everywhere the stereotyjDed image of the rose and the 
nightingale, the thorn-resembhng eyelashes, the fum- 
ing vapors of rising sighs, &c. Everywhere the same 
muse of which the learned M. de Khanikoff rightly 
says : — " That she comes forth free and wild, like those 
plants of strange forms to be met with in the calcined 



LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 341 

soil of southern Asia, covered with thistles and thorns, 
mcrusted with salt ; they diffuse through a rugged 
bark, here and there, aromatic, beneficent odours, and 
wave ujDon their mthered stems wreaths of flowers of 
elegant forms and brilliant colours." — Asiatic Journal^ 
vol. v., p. 297. Of this literature, however, which is 
well known in western countries, through many trans- 
lations and learned treatises, we shall say nothing. We 
rather pass over the religious hterature of many eccen- 
tric devotees, who, m zealous ardour towards God and 
the prophets, have written volumes full of pompous ex- 
pressions on the subject of their love and resignation. 
These last productions m the three Khanats are con- 
sidered as the exclusive property of the MoUah and 
Ishan world. The people listen very patiently to their 
recitals, but are not enthusiastic, for the mystical cur- 
rent of thought m copious language is beyond the 
reach of their understandmg. What we wish to say, 
then, of the literature of Central Asia is confined, to 
speak correctly, to the Popular Poetry. Here we do 
still find something original, here some types which 
deserve the real name of Turkestan, and with these 
we wish to make our readers acquaiuted. The most 
poetically attuned people are in the Khanat of Khiva. 
This part of Central Asia had at the begmning of the 
twelfth century acquired the reputation of a special 
eminence in music, tmieful voices, distinguished poets 
and poetesses; indeed, it is hardly fifty years ago 
that in the courts of the Kadjars, in Teheran, a 



342 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

Khivite lute-player was in great honour. Bokhara, 
before the ascendancy of the Turkish element, had only 
a few great poets, such as Rudeki and Figani ; but these 
must be rather classed in Persian hterature. To 
return to Khiva, I must remark that as it always sur- 
prised myself when I heard a heavy-looking, coarsely- 
dressed (Ezbeg, with wild, sun-burnt features, sing 
one or another soft minor air ; so, also, with travellers 
in general, this feeling will be found to exist on their 
entry among Turkomans and Kirghis. These people 
esteem music and poetry as their highest pleasure. 
After a fortunate adventure the marauder, however 
tired and hungry he may be, will hsten in the open 
street with real dehght to the bakhshi (troubadour), 
who comes to meet him. Returning home from a 
foray, or other heroic deed, the young warriors are 
in the habit of amusing; themselves throug-hout the 
night with poetry and music. In the desert, where 
man is either ignorant of the luxuries of life, or does 
without them, it is, nevertheless, that the bakhshi is 
very seldom wanting, and besides, that the latter are 
found in great numbers, goiag about to exercise their 
art. The nomads have the habit of amusing them- 
selves with poetic games. 

As people regard in company the happy finding of a 
rhyme or cadence as indispensable to education, the 
young nomad girl will also, say, give the preference to 
him who would answer her question in a verse with 
happy rhymes. The poetry of the (Ezbegs consists 



LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 343 

first of narratives, which either appeal to rehgious life 
or famous heroic deeds. The first are composed by 
the Mullah world, or by the more polished bakhshis, 
after Arabic or Persian sources, and adapted to native 
taste, — the last are genuine Tartar compositions, m 
which there are not wanting at times both glomng lan- 
guage and good metaphors. These tales of heroic 
exploits, which are similar to our romances, begin 
ah'eady to be of even greater extent, and are often 
recited or sung many evenmgs together, and although 
Islam plays here and there a conspicuous part, never- 
theless those pieces are preferred in which home-heroes 
figure on well-known historic fields. Of these last- 
named compositions, one much esteemed in Central 
Asia may serve as a specimen. It bears as its title 

"Ahmed and Yusuf," 

And is the history of two sons of heroes, who, after 
their country's fashion, even in early youth undertake 
a tchapao or razzia agamst heretical Iran, in which the 
leadmg motive is not so much the thirst for spoil as 
the chastisement of the unbeheving Shiites. Just at 
the beguining Yusuf harangues his heroes ready for 
the foray m the following fashion : — 

" With the worthless fellow unite not, for he makes 
known the deepest secret. Speak no secret words in bad 
spots, for thy deep hidden mystery will become known. 
Better is the bare leaf than the faded rose. Better is 
dry earth than worthless grass. Better is a staff than 



344 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

a stupid fellow-traveller. For he makes known the 
direction of thy route to the foe. Do not mstruct 
the fool, because he will, nevertheless, reach the 
grave of misery miconsciously. When you enter ^t a 
good-for-nothing fellow's as a guest, he attacks you 
hke the little cur, and makes his vice kno^vn. Would 
that I could give you the picture of a true hero ! He 
draws his sword only for the destruction of the un- 
believers. Do not march against the enemy with a 
coward, since he makes kno^vn the trodden track as 
well as his own path. Yusuf Beg says, ' Such a time 
is come. This home-land is for us no longer. Fools 
know not their o^vn lair ; they speak angrily, and 
make then" evil speech known.' " 

They march away. The report of their heroic 
deeds spreads far and wide, and naturally reaches 
their home-land. Here governed only petty prmces, 
each of whom would take renowned warriors mto his 
service. The usual career of warfare proceeds, and 
Yusuf takes the command, but only with the consent 
of his comrades. 

They draw out afresh for an expedition against 
Guzel Shah, the Governor of Isfahan. The (Ezbegs 
are overpowered by Persian cmming. Both prmces 
are taken and dragged in chams to Iran. This mis- 
fortune rouses deep cries from the heart of Yusuf, 
and as he could not turn for sympathy to his captors, 
he pours forth his wail to the lofty hills that surround 
him, and exclaims : — 



LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. _345 

" Ye snow-bedecked, many coloured hills, what has 
befallen me ; have you seen it ? I am become the slave 
of these unbelievers; my tarrying behind, have you 
seen it? No one pities my tears, the hills only throb 
at my tears. With lashes aromid my head, how must 
I have stepped along the way; have you seen it? 
Heedless were my attendants. Ah! I weep tears of 
blood ! How captured with Ahmed Beg came 1 here, 
have you seen it? I drink blood, — -in this world too 
heavy is my sorrow! Walking on foot, unbehevers 
on steeds; have you seen it? Yusuf Beg saj^s, ' I am 
mwardly consumed, my sorrow is endless. Dragged 
with these bomid hands • at a horse's pleasure, have 
you seen me?' " 

He is then thrown into prison, where he finds a 
fellow-suiferer in the person of a Sunnite, who as 
enchanter and fortune-teller by profession, had drawn 
on himself the displeasure of the Persian monarch ; and 
he also finds in the dauo-hter of the o'aoler, who had 
become enamoured of him, a kmd friend. Up to this 
point the strifes, the mighty hero- deeds, the religious 
enthusiasm, are constantly detailed. From this pohit 
love also mnioies in the strain. Yusuf Bes; had left 
at home a sister and a lady love. The former vainly 
waiting his return, cries bitterly, and in tears calls on 
her maidens to loosen her hair; the latter, in his ab- 
sence, mamtains her passionate regard, and sends the 
trained cranes of the hero with a love-letter to him. 
It contains the foUowmg charge : — 



346 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

" Oh, ye five cranes of Yusuf Beg ! Rush out and 
draw near to N. Strengthen jT^ourselves and fly away 
over the hills ! Seemg Yusuf Beg, hasten back, that 
the hawk see not on the plams the tips of your wiugs. 
I am deprived of half my heart. Come back, asking 
him of his health! Hasten back! I was once the 
world-rose ; flown hence is the nightingale of my 
grove! Should my lover be living, then brush with 
your hvely wmgs early back. Should the red roses 
have become withered; should his life have reached 
its end; should my lover be dead, put on mourning, 
and weepmg return ! Calling on God, shake then your 
wings. With ardour look forth to the heaven ; burst out 
for the town of Urgendj. Break out and draw towards 
the town of N. Gaiu true intelligence, and come back. 
Oh, hear Gul Assl's cry! Carry to him my heart- 
sorrow ! Oh, make a pilgrimage to his grave. Brmg 
me a httle dust, and hasten back." 

The birds circle around the prison of their sorrow- 
ful master with plaiative chirping. He remarks them, 
and sends back to his home the followmo; messao;e : — 

" Oh, ye cranes ! Fly round me, right and left, in 
mazy sweep m an*. Go back, — say my greeting to 
my people ! Oh, ye cranes ! right and left, looking 
round, go back, — say my greetmg to my people! 
The crane flies and rests high hi the air. Tired are 
his wiags with the long way. Here in prison breaks 
out afresh my sorrow. Oh, greet, then, my kmsmen ! 
Kharezm to^vn is my home. There stays my friend. 



LITEKATUKE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 347 

my beloved, my well-wisher, my dear one, my tender 
one. Oil, greet her, my mother ! my Kaaba! On 
the momitains of sorrow are pines high, high. Oh, 
pray for me all of you, young and old. Mournful 
autumn became my fate; before the life's blossoms 
had opened yet! Oh, greet for me my poor httle 
sister! She from early morn waiting for me looks 
aroimd. She is inwardly consumed by the torture of 
separation. Looking on the path in the morning with 
dishevelled han, she cries : ' He is not come !' Her 
whole soul for me is waste and empty, — my love Gul 
Assl, for her I mourn. Oh, greet her! In one day, 
oh crane ! thou wilt reach from here to Kharezm. On 
the way thither go over the seven mountains. Note 
this thou hast seen, Yusuf Beg; greet the cowardly 
Begs for me." 

The birds depart, but the heroes languish yet long 
in prison. At last they are condenmed to die. But 
the miraculous power of the Sunnee saints saves them. 
All the weapons employed become blunt. The Per- 
sian tyrant remarks it, and summons the heroes to his 
presence. As the chief condition of obtaining the 
mshed-for freedom, Yusuf must improvise in opposi- 
tion to the court fool, Kokche, and in the event of 
his overcoming the latter in poetic ability, then he is 
to be restored to his home m full liberty. Yusuf im- 
provises in strikingly bold language. He sings not 
the praises of the tyrant, but his own, while he says, — ■ 

" My people is a fine people. Winters there are 



348 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

continually summers, gardeners tend the gardens, the 
trees give their fruits. In white tents repose the 
aged, the youths hunt around them. In cordial com- 
panionship live the youths, spending time in delight 
and pleasure. Fast as the wind the steeds. In 
racing thy steeds lay behind them. High soaring to 
heaven is the flight of the birds. In scorn they carry 
off men. Should mtelligence of me arrive in a day, 
in a day also an army can come. Out of six pounds 
of thick cord are the strmgs of their bows. Then' 
princes rule in equity, partiality is far from them. 
Hear me, Guzel Shah, thou unbeliever, should I re- 
turn to wage war on thee, then know that one wave 
of my arm kills 100,000 men. Of Isfahan are their 
swords. Then' streets are united bazaars, their fields 
like beds of tulips. With deers, hare,s, falcons, the 
fields of my people are full. Their free inhabitants 
are like Hatem,* their leaders are like Behram and Rus- 
tem m the day of battle, heroes in the strife. I am a 
slave without power, the mibeliever regards not this; 
without fate the fly dies not ; let not my tears flow m 
vain." 

He conquers, goes laden with treasure to Urgendj ; 
and though he has to undergo some hard struggles on 
the road, arrives happily home, where his reception 
is described in many deeply-moving, highly poetical 
images. After an interview with his beloved and his 
sister they conduct him to Lalakhan, his mother, who 

* The oriental emblem for generosity. 



LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 349 

in consequence of mourning for him for several years, 
has ahnost lost her sight. They bring her the joyful 
intelligence, Avhich she disbelieves at first, and says, — 
" My ardent desire has bent me low. Am I really 
to see thee, my dear child? Sunk in sorrow, I only 
sighed, with eyes tremulously searching for you. The 
whole world would I look through could I really find 
thee, my child. Shall I mourn like the nightingale? 
Shall T, like Mansur, succumb to sorroAv? Shall I, 
like Djerdjis, weep tears of blood? Am I again to 
find thee, oh my dear child," &c. 

Yusuf Beg is led to her. He bides apart, and 
when he hears the cry of his mother, his anguish 
bursts forth for their fatal separation m yet more 
sorrowful words. By the voice his mother recognises 
him. Overpowered by excessive joy, she yet welcomes 
him m the following words : — 

" Oh, thou seven years' sufferer m prison ! Oh, 
thou balsam of my wounded heart ! My star of hap- 
piness brightens. Vanished is the night of misery! 
Oh, prince of my people and land! Thou Rustem, 
thou hero of the world ! My Yiisuf, my glorious son, 
my comfort, my life-power! Thou crown of happi- 
ness, thou highest grace of my life! Lalakhan has 
found her son, the All-powerful has shown mercy to 
her. Gone is all pain from my breast, all sorrow. 
Yusuf, my son, is come ! " 

Soon after this the marriage of the lovers takes 
place, his hero blood suffers not the adventure- seeking 



350 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

chief to rest. He collects an army, of which all the 
people of Central Asia form part. It is to take 
vengeance on Guzel Shah. Fortune attends his arms. 
The Persian is conquered; his old fellow- sufferer, 
Kamber, freed. He goes home crowned mth glory, 
and the conquered Guzel Shah must pay him the 
following tribute. 

Demands of Yusuf feom Guzel Shah. 

"He shall give me the whole Kharads of the town, N., 
— 40,000 silk stuffs embroidered with gold, and 40,000 
khimhal (stronger silk stuffs) shall he send. His tolls 
and taxes he shall collect ; 40,000 magnificent dresses 
shall he send; 40,000 chargers, mth golden saddles; 
40,000 male and female camels; 40,000 young slaves 
with golden girdles; 40,000 youths, with beautiful 
eyes, shall he send; 40,000 oxen (well bred) shall he 
send; 40,000 rhinoceri, bound hi chains, shall he send; 
40,000 reins, well shod, with gold nails, and 40,000 
grey falcons shall he send; 40,000 whips shall he send, 
the nails of which shall be symmetrically arranged; 
lashes, worked in silver, the handles with golden 
spangles; 40,000 iron greys, 40,000 foxes, 40,000 
noble steeds, with snake like tails, shall he send; 
40,000 ambling nags, 40,000 roadsters, 40,000 pea- 
sants, as caravan guides, shall he send; these, with 
black locks falliug down right and left, whose faces 
are covered with moles; 40,000 wonderfully beauti- 
ful maidens, with golden gh'dles, shall he send ; 40,000 



LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 351 

caps, 60,000 turbans, shall he send. Also, 70,000 
sheep and double horned rams shall he send. Yusuf 
Beg says he shall have all ready quickly; 100,000 
Russian thalers and 10 gold dishes shall he send." 

This was, in short, the material of an QEzbeg 
romance, of which there is an innumerable quantity, 
and of domestic tales also; and these are considered 
the most valuable portion of their literature. Here 
and there, one finds an union of rehgion and valour. 
The Heroes are taken out of the Islam world, as, 
for instance, in the story- of Zerkum Shah, where Ali 
conquers the last named heathen prince of Persia, 
in wonderful engagements, which border upon the 
imagmative, and may be compared to the poems of 
Ariosto and Bojardi ; finally, he converts him to 
Islam. There are also numerous tales of Ebu Muslim, 
the old Field- Marshal of the Abassides, and, later, the 
mdependent ruler of Khorassan and Kharezm. The 
historical facts are pretty old, and yet each (Ezbeg, in 
the great desert which separates his home from Persia, 
points out many a spot where the Arabian Field- 
Marshal encamped, fought, and enacted supernatural 
deeds of valour. Finally, there are also the epics, in 
which the old princes of the house of Shah Kharezmian 
are extolled. In these, as well as in those which tell 
of Mohamed Emin, Khan of Khiva, Mohamed Ali 
Khan of Khokand, we find many an image which indi- 
cates the natural feeling and pride of the (Ezbegs. 

Then follow, also, on these compositions, which are 



352 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

always of greater length, short poems, which tell of 
love, morality, heroism, — or contain special directions 
for handling of weapons, dressmg of horses, and the 
duties of a good warrior. These are, for the greater 
part, productions of plam burghers, professional Bakh- 
shis, people who are unacquainted with reading and 
writing, and leave their poetry to be ^vritten by others ; 
or, finally, productions by women and young girls, 
who break out into poetic effusions from the fire 
kindled by passion. I brought with me a pretty col- 
lection, written on soiled paper, m a bad hand, bound 
in rough leather, which I found among the Turkomans 
at a Bakhshi's, who hid the "Opus Curiosum" in the 
broad leg of his boots ; and it has really very strange 
things in it, sometimes not without beauty. We msh 
to produce some specimens, under the names of the 
Avriters ; some of them appear to be anonymous. The 
first one, in the genuine Oriental style, mourns the 
transitory condition of humanity and the vanity of the 
world. 

Allah Yar. 

L To build castles in this world is a fruitless 
thing; finally, all will become ruin, and builclmg is 
really not worth the trouble. 

2. Day and night, for each poor wanderer to 
labour and strain himself, is really not worth the 
trouble. 

3. Friends ! For idle good m this empty world. 



LITERATUEE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 353 

to mourn and lament oneself, is really not worth the 
trouble. 

4. To do homage to passion out of ostentation, to 
torment the poor and the sick, is really not worth the 
trouble. 

5. To destroy the lands of Islam, and to draw the 
sword to annihilate, is really not worth the trouble. 

6. With taxes, duties, with hundredfold griefs and 
sorrows to vex Molla Khodja, — nay, the whole world, 
is really not worth the trouble. 

7. As you cannot, Allah Yar, stand the brunt of 
the world, why plague yourself going up and down it ? 
it is really not worth the trouble. 



Revnak. 

1 . I went to my love one evening, on foot, treadmg 
softly. In sweet sleep lay the dear one. I embraced 
her softly, softly. 

2. I took a kiss from her lips and refreshed my 
soul by it. I embraced her tender limbs, and kissed 
her once more, — softly, softly. 

3. I said, give me a kiss, then. What, are you 
not ashamed, said she? Return whence you came, 
quickly, — treading softly, softly. 

4. I was obstinate, and would not go. She seized 
my arm and pushed me out. At last, I saw no other 
chance, and sneaked off, — softly, softly. 

5. I departed; could not endure separation, and 

23 



354 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

came back. Oh, merciless one, I implore thee, give 
me a kiss, — softly, softly. 

6. Too genial to suit European taste. 

7. Revnak says, as the whole world is full of 
jokes and sport, so let no one blame me, and read tliis 
softly, softly. 

Meshref, 

1. My soul blazes in flame, yet my mistress comes 
not. What said I, — Mistress! The beloved of my 
heart comes not. 

2. I am inwardly consumed for the love of this 
cypress-like beauty. She is so cruel. Into her 
thoughts I enter not. 

3. I see m dreams her ringlets, and rise deeply 
saddened at noon. From this lock of her hair my 
heart separates not. 

4. Medjnun and Leila, take a lesson from me in 
love ; my charming dear one heeds me not. 

5. The hfe of foolish Meshref seems coming to its 
end, and the sad flirt heeds me not. 

FuzuLi. 

1. Hold fast to the leading strings of modesty, for 
nothing is lovelier than modesty. Immodesty, mark 
this well, advances neither in this nor that world. 

2 . Oh ! bird of my heart, flutter not in the air, but 
light on the hand of a king. The too high-flying hawk 
is never employed in the chase. 



LITERATUEE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 355 

3. Desire treasure only from God; he has many 
storehouses. Should a drop only fall to thee for por- 
tion, this is amply sufficient : it ends not. 

4. He, on whom the bird of happiness has rested, 
flies high, even without wings. He, on whom a dark 
lot has fallen, can scarcely raise his own hand. 

5. Be always humble: strive to obtain a contrite 
spirit. He who suffers gold-hunger can never be sa- 
tisfied. 

6. You, Fuzuli, live in this world only for friend- 
ship. Winter lives in unfriendly hearts ; ■ never can it 
be summer there. 



Nesimi. 

1. Saturday. I met my cypress-like charmer, and 
she made me distracted. 

2. Sunday. I was frantic, and a wanderer, and fell 
down senseless. I saw her face, and thought it was 
the shining moon. 

3. Monday. At last I told her my heart-secret. 
Her eyes are like the narcissus, her cheeks resemble 
roses, her eyebrows are like a bow. 

4. Tuesday. I became a huntsman, and went over 
the country (walked), yet I myself became the chased, 
and fell a sacrifice to the ever coy one. 

5. Wednesday. My beauty walked in the fields; 
the nightingale saw her face and uttered wild cries. 

6. Thursday. I said to my loved one: Hearken, 



356 SICETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

then, to my advice: hide thy secret still from both 
good and bad. 

7. Friday. At last Nesimi saw her beauty, and 
drank to satiety of the sherbet of her rosy lips. 

These, although through the poetic beauty of our 
European tastes they may not prove quite agreeable, 
give yet sufficient evidence that the inhabitants of Cen- 
tral Asia, apart from the roughness of their social rela- 
tions, despite their incessant wars and forays, are not 
unskilled in the expression of traits of poetic feeling 
and tender love. The higher classes, though they do 
not look on the popular poetry with contempt, still 
wish to show traces of refined taste, a higher educa- 
tion, and enjoy the works of the elder Persian poets, 
or the books of Nevai, who stepped forward as the 
first of the Tchagatay poets in that kmd of accomphsh- 
ment, by which all the rest of the poets of the Islamitish 
polite world acquired renown. Nevai is a scholar of 
the celebrated Sheikh Abdurrahman Djami, during 
many years minister, field marshal, and governor of 
many provmces. He is of rare genius in poetry, and 
of great fertility ; for he has produced more than thirty- 
two distmct works on poetry, history, morals, logic; 
and though his works are thoroughly Persian in spirit, 
and not pervaded with the spirit of Central Asia, yet 
the merit of having refined and ennobled the Turkish 
dialect of Central Asia cannot be taken from hmi. 

Here I give a few specimens. 



liteeatuke of centeal asia. 357 

Nevai. 

1. Oh! heart, come, let us seek out a love; the 
C3^press-growuig one, the silver-cheeked one, let us 
seek. 

2. As the clarlmg of our eyes has looked for another 
friend, we also have eyes ; therefore, another let us seek. 

3. She greets the glance of men only with the dust 
of death. Why stand longing here ? Another beauty 
let us seek. 

4. Should I not find another like thee, who destroy- 
est all the world, then a lowly, modest, but tender one, 
I will seek. 

5. We will hasten through field and plain for the 
loved one ; we will search garden and meadows. Her 
will we seek. 

6. As the "svish is good, it shall not remain unful- 
filled. Among small and great, through all as far as 
possible, we wish to seek. 

7. Oh ! Nevai, fi-om this passion jou. will never get 
freed. Come, therefore, before the meeting. Patience 
and perseverance let us seek. 



NevaIc 

1. Absent fi-om the loved one, the heart is like a 
land without a king. A land without a king is like a 
body without a soul. 

2. Oh! Mussulman, what service is a body without 



358 SKETCHES or CENTRAL ASIA. 

a soul! It is like black earth, which has no sweet 
smelling roses. 

3. Black earth, that has no sweet smelling roses, is 
like a dark nio-ht, that has no brio-ht moonbeams. 

4. A dark night, that has no bright moon, is like 
darkness without a life-source. 

5. A darkness, that has no life-source, is like a hell, 
which has no paradise-plains. 

6. Oh! Nevai, as the loved give so much pain, it is 
certain, that absence has its pangs, and the return no 
aid. 

His Tchihardivan is beautiful, in which he celebrates 
the various ages of men, as also his adaptation of the 
well-known romances, Ferhad and Shirin, Medjnun and 
Leila, Yusuf and Zuleikha, &c. Also his versification 
of some stories out of the 1,001 Nio-hts. among which 
Prince Seif-ul-Muluk is the most successful. The fol- 
lowing will serve as a specimen of the latter. 

How Seif-ul-Muluk sets out from the toion of Tchin^ and 
journeys to the sea. 

1. Come, tale-teller, let us hear the story of the ad- 
verse fate that befel the king's son? 

2. The tale-teller replied, " That is hard to do; for 
the sword of sorrow cleaves the breast." 

3. The prince had every thmg prepared for his de- 
parture, and first enquned about the town of Katme. 

4. Satisfactory mformation was soon received; all 
his effects brought to the ship. 



LITEEATUEE IN CENTEAL ASIA. 359 

5. The whole crew were on board, the officers stood 
prepared, and the army equipped. 

6. Then the prmce betook hunself on board, and 
confided his person to the "god's de^dce " (the ship). 

7. The pilots led the way, followed by an endless 
host of ships. 

8. There sat the prince in sweet reverie, with smil- 
ing lips and a heart free from sorrow. 

9. Six months he went across the sea, with pilot 
carefully watching his way. 

10. Soon, Fate made him feel the sting of enyy, and 
mahciously opposed him. 

11. The sea became moved and girded on the blood- 
tliirsty sword. 

1 2 . She opened herself, and the deluge wildly burst 
forth, — a deluge on all sides of streams of fire. 

13. Every moment she showed a fresh scene of 
horror — every instant makes a thousand souls tremble. 

14. Wildly swelled the waves, and threatened with 
mighty floods : with blood-thirsty jaws rush and roar 
the waters of the sea. 

15. Then dark fearful wmds arise — the horizon 
veils itself in pitchy darkness, and from the surface 
of the sea there sounds forth wild lamentation. 

16. The day, bright with the sun, becomes a pitch- 
dark night. What a fearful day I It is the image of 
the day of judgment. 

1 7 . Wherever thou lookest no man is visible, not even 
the hand before the eyes, — all, and over all, is water. 



360 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

18. The salt waves toss and roll incessantly, and 
raise the ships with keels upward. 

19. Ever does the mighty sea rage and roar and 
mount with fury from the deep abyss. 

20. Wild cries of creatures break out together, you 
would think it was the day of Resurrection. 

21. In frightful hurly-burly one ship runs into the 
other ; they split, and sink to the bottom of the sea. 

22. The yards break, the planks fall in pieces, no 
possibility of escape. 

23. Those hundred ships, said the tale-teller; that 
crew, those possessions, 

24. All was wrecked on the sea coast, not a trace 
remained behind on the surface of the waters." 

Wide as the territory of Turkestan-Proper extends, 
so far does the literature of which we have tried to 
give a slight sketch in the foregoing pages. And the 
further we betake ourselves from the frontiers into the 
desert, so in like manner does Islam become weaker, 
and here commences the change from Mohamedan 
civilisation into the old Shamanism. Among the 
Kirghis, notwithstanding the greater part of them 
profess Islam, one meets here and there with a tale 
which was generated m the Khanats; this, however, 
is looked upon as an exotic plant, and never preferred 
to the native. The popular poetry that one finds 
among them forms the point of transition from 
the currents of ideas of one society into another. 
Indeed, only two days' distance from the borders of 



LITEEATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 361 

the Yaxartes, or northward from the Sea of Aral, may 
a bakhshi prosper, provided he can give m the best 
fashion tales or narratives of a pnrely Kii'ghis cha- 
racter. The poetry of the wild inhabitants of the 
steppe is more strange and odd than pretty. Here 
and there a happy image occurs, at other times there 
are only broken exclamations and solitary verses with- 
out the smallest connection. Since each person is a 
poet, a tale cannot long preserve its origmality, either 
they add somethmg new to it or cast the whole off, 
and few people can keep themselves from annexhig to 
their songs the momentary influence of thefr fantasy. 
Of the love-lays of the Kirghis, Lewschme has intro- 
duced a short poem, not without charm, in his book, 
p. 380 :— 

" Dost thou see this snow? The body of my loved 
one is wliiter still." 

" Dost thou see the dropping blood of the slain, lamb? 
Her cheeks are redder still," 

" Dost thou see the trunk of this burnt tree? Her 
hair is blacker still." 

" Dost thou know with what the moUahs of our 
Khan write ? Her eyebrows are blacker than their mk." 

" Dost thou see these glowing embers ? Her eyes 
are brighter still." 

Another specimen which follows this consists of 
detached sentences without any comiection. 

" The hawk has pounced on the ducks — on a flight 
of ducks — on a great flight ! " 



362 SICETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA, 

"I am very ill, and hardly ever think of eating," 
or "yonder is a tall pine-tree, the mist has fallen 
over it." 

" Yesterday she allowed me to enter her house. 
Formerly she would come herself and caress me." 

These more or less may be found among all purely 
popular tales of oriental people. There is even a 
trace of them in Hungarian, as for example, — 

" Three apples and a half, I invited thee, and thou 
earnest not," or "the crane flies high, singing beauti- 
fully, my loved one is angry, for she will not speak 
to me," &c. 

A considerable number of tales or narratives of 
hero deeds exists among nomadic tribes, partly in 
verse, partly in prose. In these the spirit of the lite- 
rature of the Turkish tribes of South Siberia is more 
promment than that of their Central Asiatic neigh- 
bours ; and I have heard many compositions of Kir- 
ghis Bakhshis, which I find with little variation and 
dialectic differences faithfully conveyed in the more 
recent work, — "Proofs of the Popular Literature of 
the Turkish tribes of South Siberia," by Dr. RadlofF. 

It leaves no doubt that as the learned A. SchiiFner, in 
the myths and tales of Dr. Radloff's collection, finds 
traces of a Buddhist influence, so many of the irtegi 
(tales) of the modern Kirghis have reached them 
from the further south, beyond Djungaria; for Islam, 
coming from the south-west, could take no firm root 
over ike Yaxartes, and now that the mighty waves of 



LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 363 

Russian power roll down from the north, will certainly 
prevail no further. This kind of hterature belonging 
rather to the Turks of South Siberia, we shall conclude 
our present sketch by a tale of the Kirghis, which be- 
longs to this httle horde, accordmg to European opinion, 
but according to inland appellation, to Mangishlak 
Kazagi, i.e.^ a Kirghis of Mangishlak. It is from the 
book of Bronislas Zaleski, who, as a Pohsh exile, dwelt 
nine years in the desert, and on his return, 1865, pub- 
lished mider the title of " La Yie des Steppes Kirghizes." 
Paris. Fol. 1865. 



The Tale of Kugaul.* 

Man is, in Heaven, helpless without God ; on earth, 
powerless without a horse. 

There was once a Kirghis, named Buruzgay. He 
had great numbers of sheep and horses, and nothmg 
was wanting to him if God had not denied him 
children. He was alone, consequently, in an advanced 
state of life. He said not his daily prayer (namaz), 
nor kept the enjoined feasts. One day, the sorrow of 
his childless condition overcame him, and he deter- 
mined to go to the Holy places, in the hope that his 
prayers might obtam for him a son. He forged for 
himself shoes of iron, and took a staff of iron in his 
hand, and so betook himself on his way. He travelled 

* I adopt the orthography of the original, although Kugaxil (himter) Bar- 
zagai (master lion) instead of Buruzgay would be preferable. 



364 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

and travelled ten years long, and probably more. So 
long, so long did he travel, until his iron shoes were 
quite worn out, and only the handle of his iron staff 
remaiaed. At last, he fell down on the ground, pros- 
trate. Great were his sufferings, for he could neither 
raise himself up nor die. 

Lo ! before him appeared a holy man, who perceived 
him lying on the earth, had compassion on him, bent 
over him and enquired what ailed him. Buruzgay 
could not utter a word. The holy man fell on his 
knees, recited his prayer, (namaz) and prayed the 
Almighty to loosen the- tongue of the unhappy man. 
Hardly had he done this, when Buruzgay began to feel 
his strength revive. He related his history, and on 
what grounds he had abandoned his aoul. The holy 
man withdrew a short distance, and contuiued in 
prayer untD. God said to him, " Thou art well pleasuig 
m my sight. I will accomplish thy wish. But why 
dost thou interest thyself m Buruzgay? He pays no 
impost, he says no prayer (namaz), he observes 
no fast. How shall I have compassion on him?" 
" Lord," said the holy man, " in time to come he will 
serve Thee devoutly, and will repeat his prayers ; only 
do not reject my mtreaties. Grant my prayer and 
take me for an hostage." Then God said, " Depart, 
faithful servant, thy prayers are granted. Enquire of 
Buruzgay what is his desire. Will he have forty sons 
and forty daughters, or only one son and one daughter 
especially approved by me." 



LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 365 

The holy man returned to Buruzgay. He found 
him quite restored, and on his knees; and he cried 
aloud with joy, " Oh, God, I have not lied to Thee : 
Buruzgay, before my return, had begun to perform his 
duty." He then told Buruzgay the words of God. 
"What shall I do with forty sons and forty daugh- 
ters? If the Almighty hear my prayers, he will give 
me one son and one daughter." The holy man 
blessed him, and conveyed back to the Lord his reply. 
Buruzgay found his iron shoes as though unworn, and 
betook himself to his aoul. Approaching it, he ap- 
peared to recognize his steppe and flocks. He viewed 
all with heartfelt joy. Slowly and slowly regainmg 
his recollection, he perceived that nothing had changed 
since his departure. He approached a shepherd, to 
enquire of him as to the owner of the herds. The 
shepherds did not recognise him, he had so fallen 
away, and become so changed through fasting and 
hardships, and his clothes were worn out. " What is 
our master to thee," enquired the shepherds, "go thy 
way." They went their way to their flocks. Buruz- 
gay waited until their return, and questioned them 
afresh. The shepherds drove him away as a poor 
beggar (baygouche), without wishing to speak to him, 
till at last he uttered his name. They immediately 
looked at him attentively, recognised him, and told 
him that his wife, whom he had left in the family way, 
was near her confinement, and they were expecting 
guests in the aoul. Then, without waiting for his 



366 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

reply, the shepherds ran off swifter than an arrow, 
and coming to Buruzgay's wife, demanded the suy- 
midji, (the customary gift for good news). They re- 
ceived it, and informed the wife of the arrival of her 
husband. She was highly delighted, and immediately 
afterwards Buruzgay entered. A few days after his 
arrival, his wife was delivered of two fine, strong 
children, — twins. One was a son, the other was a 
daughter. Buruzgay was beside himself with joy, and 
he kept constantly meditating on what names he 
should give these children, with whom God had re- 
joiced his old age. Whilst he was buried in thought, 
his former intercessor with Heaven, the holy man, 
came to him, and said, " Thou wilt name thy son 
Kugaul, and thy daughter Khanisbeg. And Buruzgay 
hearkened to the holy man, who immediately left him. 
The children grew, and were beautiful. Four 
years passed away. The twins began to learn shoot- 
ing, with little bows prepared for them. Kugaul easily 
learned to shoot, and ten years passed away. At thia 
time, it came to pass that a mighty Sultan gave a 
feast (Toy). During the banquet, he gave notice 
that he wished a lofty mast to be erected, with a piece 
of gold on the summit, and that whoever could pierce 
with his arrow the gold piece, should be the husband 
of his daughter. A host of competitors presented 
themselves. The mast was very high; they shot in. 
turns; none could pierce the gold piece, and the re- 
nowned archers of the Steppe missed their aim. At 



LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 367 

length, the last guest at the banquet missed also. 
The Sultan cried out, " are these all the young 
people that there are in the Steppe? Have none 
stayed away who will let fly an arrow for the hand of 
the Sultan's daughter?" " Only one remains," they 
replied, " Kugaul, son of Buruzgay ; but he is only a 
little boy ten years old." " That matters nothing," 
said the Sultan, "bring him here immediately." They 
went into the aoul to seek him. He appeared on a 
broken-Avinded horse, in old clothes, with a bow at 
his back. He had plenty of beautiful clothes, and 
good horses, for his father was rich, and denied him 
nothmg, but he wished, before the rich, to appear 
poor and humble. When the Sultan's wife saw him 
riding forward, she cried out immediate^, " This 
shall be my son-in-law, and none other among those 
present." Arrived at the mast, Kugaul would not 
immediately draw his bow. 

" You are many," said he ; "I am alone, and young ; 
and if I were to hit successfully, I might, perhaps, not 
then receive the hand of the Sultan's daughter. The 
Sultan assured him that he would give him his 
daughter, but only on the condition that he should 
shoot successfully. Kugaul prepared to pierce the gold 
piece. He took aim, bent his bow so powerfully, that 
his lean, miserable horse, sank beneath him. He struck 
him with his whip until he rose. Kugaul took aim 
again, stretched the cord afresh. This time the horse 
only bent the knee. The arrow went off and pierced 



368 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

the centre of the golden piece. Kugaul, exhausted 
with the effort, dismounted, unsaddled his horse, lay 
down on the ground, and, rechnmg his head on the 
saddle, fell asleep. He slept there three days long in 
his miserable attire, httle as he was on a poor saddle. 
The Sultan had fully intended not to give his daughter 
to such a wretched-looking bemg. In vain Kugaul 
awaited the messengers. ISFo one came, and he thought 
of some means by which he could obtain his bride. 
Suddenly a woman aj)peared before him from the 
Sultan's household, and exj^lained to him fully the 
position of cu'cumstances. Kugaul said to her, " Re- 
turn to the Sultan, and tell him that I give hun until 
mid-day to-morrow for consideration. If he does not 
then give me his daughter, and forty laden camels, 
and forty carpets, I will kill him and exterminate his 
whole family." The woman took a fancy to Kugaul, 
imagining him to be a great warrior (batyr), returned 
quickly to the aoul of the Sultan, gave the Sultana an 
account of the meetmg, who rushed to her husband, 
saying, that Kugaul would become a great hero (batyr), 
and if he should not keep his word, he would draw on 
himself a disgrace darker than the earth. The Sultan's 
wife spoke many similar speeches, until at last her 
husband resolved to marry his daughter, and he gave 
Kugaul notice to that effect. Kugaul now attired him- 
self in splendid robes, mounted a magnificent courser, 
and presented himself to the Sultan. The marriage 
was celebrated, and after the accustomed wedding 



LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 369 

feast (toy) Kugaul conducted his young wife home, 
and returned to his father's aoul. Forty camels, laden 
with costly objects, and covered with forty carpets 
followed him. This was the dower of the bride. 
When he reached home, Kugaul' s wife lowered her 
veil, according to the custom of the Kirghis. But 
when they were in the presence of his father and 
mother, Kugaul lifted it for the first time. Hardly 
had his parents seen her countenance, when they pre- 
sented her gifts of horses and cattle. Then, because 
they had not guessed her favourite colours for animals, 
the daughter-in-law did not fall at their knees to thank 
them. The old Buruzgay was angry at this, and cried 
out, enraged, " What an animal is this maiden ! We 
have given her a host of presents and she will not 
humble herself before us, nor give us even the usual 
salute (selam)." She replied, "What are your pre- 
sents to me ? I do not require them. You have not 
given me the very best. Behind the house there is a 
chesnut mare, she sinks knee-deep in the sand; she 
alone suits me. For she will produce a stallion, which 
will save my Kugaul from many misfortunes, and be- 
come a true warrior's steed. Give me this mare, she 
is the most valuable, and I prefer her to all." " My 
daughter-m-law is, though young, prudent enough," 
said Buruzgay. This pleased him, he became recon- 
ciled to her, gave her the mare, and the young bride 
fell at the feet of her parents, and gave the usual 
greeting. A beautiful tent was erected near the old 

24 



370 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. 

people, and the newly-married dwelt therein, and 
the Avife of Kugaul ordered her servants to attend 
to the chesnut mare as the apple of their eye. They 
then dug a deep recess, covered it with grass, and 
there the mare was protected and well fed. Durmg 
the night a fire was lighted around. Forty days 
passed and the mare brought forth a colt, a Kttle 
bay stallion. The servants ran immediately to ap- 
prise the lady, and demanded a reward for the joyful 
intelhgence. "Wait another forty days," she an- 
swered; "take great care of the stallion, give him 
plenty to eat and drink." The servants obeyed, and 
when the appointed time was passed they returned to 
their mistress, who informed them that from that 
moment they were all free, and could go where they 
wished. As for the young colt, a silk noose of forty 
fathoms was prepared, — they fed him on pure barley, 
milk, and kishmish (a kind of dry raisin), and he 
grew up with Kugaul. It happened at this time that 
the Khan (chief of the Kirghis) came on a visit to 
the old Buruzgay, and when he saw Khanisbeg and 
the wife of Kugaul they pleased him so much that he 
fell senseless to the ground. They brought him back 
to life, and prepared food for all. They all set to 
work to cut meat for mishbarmak (a Kirghis dish). 
The Khan did the same, but whilst his hands were 
occupied his eyes admu-ed the beautiful women. He 
became inflamed with a mighty passion, and could 
not turn his looks away from her face. So absorbed 



LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 371 

was he that he did not even remark, that instead of 
cutting meat he had cut his own finger, and did not 
discover this for some minutes. Aware of it, he be- 
came so ashamed that he could cut nothing,* and not 
to displease his host he made belief as though he were 
tasting the dishes. He took leave quickly, and re- 
turned home with a concealed longing in his heart. 
Hardly had he reached it when he gathered his friends 
and relatives together, and consulted with them on the 
means he should take to remove Kugaul, and become 
possessed of his wife and his sister. Every body said 
that he could not kill him, for he was far too great a 
hero. 

But they devised another plan; they resolved to 
send Kugaul against a hostile horde with the command 
to brmg the Khan, who was there ruling, alive or 
dead. This idea pleased the love-lorn Khan. People 
assured him that the envoy could not return under 
ten years, and it was mdeed very probable that he 
might perish. They sent for Kugaul immediately, and 
gave him the instructions. He returned home to 
his aoul and related to his wife the commands he had 
received. " Not on this account does he send thee," 
replied she, "I know the feelmgs of his heart. When 
he was here he was seized with a passionate longing 
for me and thy sister ; he will have us and send thee 

* This same episode occurs in the romance of Yusuf and Zuleikha, where 
Zuleikba's friends at the banquet are so astonished at the beauty of Yusuf that 
instead of paring the pomegranates before them they cut off the skin with their 
fingers. 



372 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

away, so that thou mayest die; but thou hast thine 
horse, thou canst not fail, only return quickly." 
Kugaul departed, and only took with him his servants 
and his horse, and travelled over many steppes, until 
at last he reached the hostile border. Ten years, 
perhaps, more or less, he travelled, I do not know 
exactly. At last his horse stopped, Kugaul pressed 
him on, but the animal suddenly began to speak with 
a human voice. " Compel me not to advance further, 
we are near the enemy. Take off my bridle and 
saddle, I will go thither and see how many they are 
in number." Kugaul obeyed his horse, which began 
to roll on the ground, and by this means to increase 
his strength more than by the best food. Then he 
rose, shook himself, neighed, changed into a bird, and 
flew up into the clouds. Thus he flew for three days. 
At last he returned and said, " There are more ene- 
mies than hairs in my mane or tail. Consider well 
what thou dost. Wilt thou fight or return? " Kugaul 
was not terrified. He left his servants with the com- 
mand that they should await him on that spot. " If 
you hear of my fall," continued he, "bear the news 
to my wife and my mother." He then offered an 
earnest prayer to God for help, and departed. The 
enemy surrounded him, but he permitted not himself to 
be conquered. His horse was a great help to him, for 
hardly did one of the enemy take aim at him with his 
gun than he changed into an eagle and flew far away 
with Kugaul towards the heaven. If he were threatened 



LITERATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA. 373 

with an arrow, the horse changed into a sparrow and 
disappeared among the grass like a small ball. Kugaul 
fought thus many days and at last slew and exter- 
minated all the men of this race, carried oiF the 
women, children, cattle, and possessions with him, 
brought them to the place where he had left his 
servants, commanded them to convey the booty home, 
and he himself rode forward on his faithful steed. 
On and on he journeyed for a long time. One 
evening, however, his horse would go no further, did 
nothing, and stood petrified. Kugaul dismounted and 
lay down to sleep. Towards the morning he awoke, 
approached his horse, and perceived that he was 
shedding bitter tears. " What dost thou ail, my good 
horse," inquired Kugaul, "why dost thou weep?" 
" Alas, why should I not weep ! " answered the horse. 
" this is the spot where once I trotted in my silken 
halter. Here was also our aoul, and now there is not 
a trace remaining of it, all is destroyed." And he 
began again to weep. " Take off my saddle and 
bridle, let me take rest, and so recruit my strength, 
and I will make enquiry as to the doer of all this, and 
discover thy enemy." 

Kugaul took the saddle and bridle off the horse ; he 
began to roll afresh ; and when he had regained strength 
he raised his head, took a deep breath with his power- 
ful nostrils. He bounded, changed into a bird, and 
flew up into the air. He flew three days, without, 
however, discovering anything, and was already on the 



374 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

point of returning, when, on the opposite side, he dis- 
covered the aouls of the Khan. Hither he directed 
his course; flew over the tents and flocks, and saw 
everything. No one guessed that the bird was Kugaul's 
horse, only the wife of the hero (Batyr) had a pre- 
sentiment that some one was commg to her, and nigh 
at hand, which idea she communicated to her sister. 
The bird returned to Kugaul, related what he had seen, 
that the Khan had carried ofi" his Avife and sister, taken 
his flocks, compelled his father to collect tezek (a 
fuel made of manure), his mother to tend the sheep. 
The horse began to weep afresh. Kugaul prayed God 
to come to his assistance, so that he might punish his 
insulting foe. He then commanded the horse to con- 
vey him forthwith to his mother. He departed, and 
soon foiuid her in the steppe, occupied in tending the 
sheep. He threw himself into her arms. "Why dost 
thou thus embrace me?" said the good old woman; 
" can it be that thou art my son?" " If I am not thy 
son, am I not worth as much as he?" "Oh, no; none 
in the steppe is worth as much as my son." " Have 
you no news of him?" " I do not know where he is. 
The Khan has despatched him against a hostile people ; 
smce that time I have never heard talk of him. Only, 
to-day it appears to me that I heard the noise of his 
horse's Avings ; but I do not know whether it was reality 
or a trick of Satan." " And is it long smce thy Kugaul 
departed ? " " Yes, yes ; a long, long, very long time." 
" But I am Kugaul himself. Dost thou not recognise 



LITEEATURE IN CENTRAL ASIA 375 

me ?" The old woman looked at him. miore attentively, 
and she did not recognise him, and said : " No, thou 
art not Kugaul ; but if thou art his companion, or if 
thou knowest anythuig of him, then speak. But do 
not deceive me — do not torment me." " I am Kugaul," 
cried the son. " It was my horse that flew over thy 
head this day." But the old woman was still incre- 
dulous. He asked her if Kugaul had no birth-mark, 
and she replied, that he had a black spot on his shoulder, 
big as a hand. He then asked his mother to rub 
his shoulder (a common habit among the Ku^ghis). 
" But," the old woman replied, " the sheep will run 
about m all directions, and the Khan will beat me ; for 
he often beats me. Go, then, and let me manage my 
flocks." But he msisted and pressed, and said, that if 
they wished to beat her, he would protect her. At 
last the old woman consented. She took off the khalat 
(upper garment) and the shirt, and proceeded to rub 
his shoulders. She perceived the black spot large as a 
man's hand, threw herself on the neck of the young man, 
and cried out, " Thou art Kugaul, thou art my Kugaul ;" 
and she wept for joy. " Did you not, then, recognise 
me, mother ?" said Kugaul. "Is it, then, so long a time 
that I have been? And you, my poor dear mother, 
how altered you are ! You have grown old and grey, 
and your eyes are red with tears." And he embraced 
her, weeping. " I knew not my child," replied his 
mother; "how long you have been absent! But the 
Khan has attacked our aoul, carried off thy wife and 



376 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

sister, and all our eiFects, and reduced thy father and 
myself to be his slaves. I have been constantly ex- 
pecting thee; but I have lost all memory: I cannot 
tell how long a time has passed. I know only that it 
is a long time, a very long time, that thou hast left 
us." "Be tranquil, mother," said Kugaul; " the evil 
days are terminating, and all begins anew to go right. 
God will aid me. Return to the aoul ; hasten to get 
in thy sheep, without paying attention that it is yet 
early. If any one inquires about me, say that I am 
not far off; but not a word more." He took leave of 
her, and went his way. The old woman returned to 
the aoul, but she did not walk as usual, — she ran; 
she, who could hardly before catch a lamb, now chased 
three or four at once, — so much had her strength im- 
proved. The Khan remarked it, and said to those 
aromid him: " That old wife of Buruzgay must have 
received intelligence of her son." He approached her, 
and questioned her about her son. " He is here, — he 
is come," replied the old mother. " You will not be 
able henceforth to make me suffer any more." She 
spoke boldly ; for her interview with her son had filled 
her heart with j oy and hope . The Khan turned pale with 
fright, and soon he perceived Kugaul, who, mounted 
on his celebrated steed, advanced to him. Kugaul 
stopped at some distance, tlien spoke, without descend- 
ing from his horse. " You have deceived me, you 
wished to get rid of me, to carry off my wife and 
sister. I thought that you acted loyally mth me, and 



LITEEATUEE IN CENTEAL ASIA. 377 

went out at thy bidding as a true man. But thou art 
only a hound, a perjured miscreant, a robber. We 
must reckon. But what shall I gain by thy sohtary 
death. They would say, that Kugaul, the Batyr, has 
only killed the Khan. Gather, then, thy army together." 
And the Khan begged of him to grant him three days to 
assemble his people. Kugaul consented, and departed. 
The Khan sent his orders into all the aouls of his 
horde, and drew together a large armament of his 
people around him. Kugaul prayed meanwhile to God. 
At the day appointed he came, and said : " You are 
my Khan; I will not shoot first at you, — you begin." 
The Khan shot : missed his aim. " I will not yet 
shoot at thee," said Kugaul ; "gather together thy best 
marksmen, and command them to shoot agamst me; 
if they do not hit me, then I will shoot." The best 
marksmen of the Khan stepped out of the ranks, and 
shot. Each shot an arrow at Kugaul, but his horse 
transformed himself into an eagle, then into a lark; 
protected him against all the shots, by raising himself 
up in the clouds — and against all the arrows, by crouch- 
ing down in the grass of the steppe. They could not 
hit him. Three days Kugaul permitted them thus to 
shoot against him. On the fourth, he said to the 
Khan : "Well, since you are my master, you have shot 
against me, — you and your servants, for three days. 
Now comes my turn." " Do what you like," said the 
Khan. Kugaul placed the best hunter, and then two 
archers, and the Khan himself in a line behind them. 



378 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

He placed himself opposite to them, and, turning to 
his horse, said: "My true steed, rest firm now, and 
change not thy position, m order that I may, with a 
smgle arrow, kill all four." The horse stayed still as 
a stone. Kuo-aul drew the strmo- with all his miffht : 

O O o 

the arrow went through huntsman, archers, and the 
Khan himself. When the people saw that the Khan 
was dead, they ran away on all sides. Kugaul followed 
them. He reached, on horseback, now this one, then 
that one, from the height of the clouds ; and all that 
he struck, died. At last he gave over his work of 
extermination. He returned to his aoul, found there 
his parents, his wife, and sister, and seized on the pos- 
sessions of the Khan. Among the women and children 
that the servants brought in, there was the daughter 
of the Khan. Kugaul took her for his second wife. 
He married his sister, Khanisbek, to a very rich Khan 
of a neighbouring tribe, and he himself became also 
Khan. 

So ends the story. The old people say (added Mour- 
zakay) that all this is the exact truth, and that all the 
events happened in the steppes. I did not see them; 
but we must believe what the old people tell us. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

RIVALKY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND 
ENGLAND IN CENTRAL ASIA. 

It is three years ago since, in the closuig chapter of 
my Travels in Central Asia, I expressed my surprise 
and dissatisfaction at the indiiFerence of Englishmen 
towards Russian progress in those regions. I then 
indicated not only the exact course of Russian pro- 
cedure on the Yaxartes, but also its steadily approach- 
mg influence on British India. Abstainmg purposely 
from all far-reaching political reflections, I was as 
brief and concise as possible, and could hardly have 
beheved that the unassuming remarks of a European, 
just returned home from Asia, would be found worthy 
of closer consideration. Nevertheless, these few luies 
were discussed and dwelt upon by almost every organ 
of the English and Indian press, from the Times to 
the Bengal Hirhdru. Only a very small proportion 
of those various journals attached itself in any measure 
to my ideas; the most of them, on the contrary, re- 
jected my good counsel; and without directly ridicul- 
ing my judgment, raised from all sides a loud-sound- 
ing Hosannah over the happy change in English poll- 



380 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

ticians, who, being less short-sighted now than they 
were thirty years back, discovered in the advance of 
the Russians only a disagreeable event; nay, would 
even regard it with pleasure, and cry success to their 
march southward over the snow-capped peaks of the 
Hindu- Kush and the Himalayas. 

In these three years, however, a great change has 
taken place. Far though I be from wishing as an 
ex-dervish to exult over the fulfilment of my pro- 
phecies, still I cannot help referring to the lines in 
which I happened to proclaim the progress of the 
Russian arms. While I was in Central Asia the 
furthest out-posts of the Cossacks lay at Kale-Rehim, 
thu'ty-two miles from Tashkend. Forts 1, 2, and 3, 
on the Yaxartes, if actually conquered, were not yet 
wholly in safe keepmg. On the north of Khokand, 
too, — on the west of the Issikkol and the Narin, the 
Court of St. Petersburg could show but few tokens of 
success. The Kirghis were embittered and hostile 
to the strange intruders, and the CEzbeg tribes on the 
northern frontier of Khokand would then have deemed 
a Russian occupation equivalent to the destruction of 
the world ; so much did they hate and scout the Un- 
behevers. Three years have passed, and what has 
happened in that time? Not only has Khodja-Ahmed- 
Yesevi, that holiest patron of the Kirghis, become a 
Russian subject in Hazreti- Turkestan; not only has 
Tashkend, the most important trading town, the great 
mart of Central- Asiatic and Chinese trade with Russia, 



KIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 381 

been absorbed into the northern Colossus; not only- 
does the Russian flag wave from the citadel of Khod- 
jend, the second town of importance in Khokand; it 
may now be also seen on the small fortress of Zamin, 
Oratepa, and Djissag. The dreaded Russ has set 
himself up as lord-protector in the eastern Khanat of 
Turkestan : the Hazret, the Khan, as also the Hazret 
or High Priest of Namengan, strive for the favour of 
one who, but a year before, would have filled their 
verjT- dreams with mortal terror. Nay, not Khokand 
only, but the Tadjik population also throughout Bok- 
hara and Khiva, the great number of freedmen and 
slaves in service, and even the wealthier merchants 
from Mooltan and other parts of India, who once 
trembled before the (Ezbeg power, now whisper de- 
lightedly into each other's ears that the Russians are 
slowly drawing nearer, and that Q^zbeg lordship and 
(Ezbeg absolutism are coming to an end. 

For three years have these metamorphoses in the 
oasis-countries of Turkestan been carried on with sure 
and steady hand from the banks of the Neva. As an 
erewhile traveller, for whom those spots had been full 
of interest fi'om my youth up, I had already kept, 
albeit from a distance, a watchful eye on all that went 
on amidst the plains of the Yaxartes. I devoured 
alike the newspaper reports and the scanty notices 
which my fellow pilgrims from Turkestan commu- 
nicated to me through their westward journeying 
brethren. That I took a hearty interest in every- 



382 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

thing will surprise no one, little as the utterances of 
the English press and the writings of British Indian 
diplomatists during these occurrences claimed my full 
attention. To the prophecies of the Dervish neither 
the one party nor the other gave a thought. The 
note of satisfaction struck three years before was kej)t 
up without a break. People were no longer content 
with the bare assertion, that Russian progress in 
Central Asia was a thing to welcome, but tried their 
utmost to show convincing grounds for that assertion, 
in order to represent the success of the Muscovite 
arms as tending more and more profitably for English 
interests. 

To solve this problem the more happily, to convince 
all thoughtful Englishmen the more unanswerably of 
the profit to be gained from Russian successes, the 
question was debated by a light which was sure to be 
equally welcome to all the different classes. The 
scientific world was informed by the learned Pre- 
sident of the Royal Geographical Society touchmg the 
excellent service rendered to science at large by the 
trigonometrical, geographical, and geological societies 
of Russia. Russian voyages of discovery were exalted 
above everythmg; Russian scholars were deified; nay, 
it was only lately that even Vice- Admiral Butakoff 
was presented with the large gold medal for his dis- 
coveries on the Sea of Aral. Social Reformers, on 
the contrary, were taught to compare Tartar savagery 
with Russian civilisation. The picture which I my- 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 383 

self drew of Central Asia was contrasted with the 
young Russia of to-day: the emancipation of slaves, 
the Russian endeavours after national enlightenment, 
the great change m manners, the mighty strides by 
which Russia was approaching England in civilised 
ideas, were all brought into the foreground ; and in every 
thread of this tissue was expression given to the great 
usefulness of Russian supremacy in Asia. The trading 
world was shown the advantage which must accrue 
from safe means of communication, now that Russian 
arms are on the point of smoothing a way through the 
mhospitable steppes of Turkestan towards India. Some 
journals, indeed, were carried so far away by their 
zeal as to pomt out to the honest workmen of Birmmg- 
ham, Sheffield, Manchester, &c., that only English 
wares and English capital would travel to and fro 
along the new Russian commercial road to Central 
Asia. Even the military class had a friendly word 
whispered into its ear. To the sons of Mars it was 
needful to represent a Russian invasion of India as a 
ridiculous bugbear. From every stand-point, moral, 
physical, strategical, was such an attempt proved to be 
an impossibility. How, mdeed, could Russia over- 
come the enormous difficulties of those parched steppes 
that stretched week after week before her ; how master 
the warlike Afghans, or win through the dreaded 
Khyber Pass? And even if she succeeded in that 
also, how roughly would she not be handled by the 
British Lion, who would lie waiting leisurely for her 



384 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

in his luxurious palankeen ? Nay, even to the Church, 
that mightiest of English levers, should a lullaby be 
chanted forth. People huited at a happy union be- 
tween the Orthodox Church of Russia and that of 
England. Dr. Norman Macleod is an authority; and 
his cry, " The Greek Church is not yet lost," has 
aroused the hopes of many; and very learned church 
dio;nitaries have looked forward with blissful smiles 
to the moment when the three-fold Greek Cross shall 
rise from the Neva up to the proud dome of St. Paul's 
in London, for the kiss of brotherhood, and the two 
united churches shall become a powerful weapon 
against Papal ideas. 

Independent pamphlets and thunderiag newspaper 
articles alternated on the field of this question with 
the expositions above-named. The warning voice of a 
small minority could not succeed in making head 
against the Optimists, agauist those apostles of the 
new pohtical doctrine. Sir Henry Rawlmson, whose 
perfect conversance with the circumstances of that 
region no one can dispute, a man whose practical ex- 
perience is at one with his theoretic msight, has here 
and there m the Quarterly Review pointed out the 
errors of such sjDeculations in sohdly written essays; 
and though, as doubtmg any ultimate design of 
Russia upon India, he protested agamst aU actual in- 
terference, merely blaming the indifference above- 
mentioned; stni his words passed unheeded of the 
multitude. I might well say to myself that where 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 385 

such an authority carries no weight, my present words 
could but travel a very short way. I was therefore 
slow to speak; and yet, as I had studied this mo- 
mentous question in all its aspects, and exammed it 
from many sides with impartial eyes, I deemed it pos- 
sible to show, not only to the statesmen of England, 
but to those of all Europe, how fatally the Cabinet of 
St. James errs in its way of looking at the matter; 
and how this cherished indifference is not only hurtful 
to English interests, but becomes a deadly weapon 
wherewith Great Britain commits a suicide unheard 
of in history. 

How it happens that I, who by race am neither 
Enghsh nor Russian, have taken so warm an interest 
in this matter, is mainly accounted for by the fact of 
my regarding the colhsion of these two Colossi in 
Asia less from the stand-point of their mutual rivalry, 
than from that of the interests of Europe at large. 
Whether England or Russia get the advantage, which 
of the two will become chief arbiter of the old world's 
destmies, can never be to us an indifferent matter; for 
widely as these two powers differ from each other in 
their character as channels of Western civilisation, not 
less widely do they diverge from one another in any 
future reckoning up of the issues of their struggle. A 
passing glance, on the one hand, at the Tartars, who 
have hved for two hundred years under Russian rule ; 
on the other, at the millions of British subjects m 
India, might teach us a useful lesson from the past on 

25 



386 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

this point. This, however, may be reserved for later 
investigation. For the present we will only affirm 
that the question of a rivalry between these two North 
European powers in Central Asia concerns not only 
Englishmen and Eussians, but every European as well ; 
nay, more, it deserves to be studied with interest by 
every thoughtful person of our century.* 

1. Russian Conquests in Centeal Asia during 

THE last three YEARS. 

First of all we will recount the historical facts of 
the Russian war of conquest during the last three 
years. Instead of goiag into those details about the 
campaigns of Perovski, Tchernaieff, and Romanovski, 
which were recorded partly in Mitchell's book, " The 
Russians in Central Asia," partly in several solid 
treatises in the Quarterly and the Edinburgh Review^ 
or into the slender notices which have trickled out 
into pubhcity from the Russian State- Cabinets, or 
those yet scantier notices which were revealed by 
highly-paid Enghsh spies in Central Asia, we would 
cast only a hurried glance at events, in order to ac- 
quaint the reader with the latest posture of Russian 
arms in Central Asia. 

* tip to tliis moment tlie Revue des Deux Mondes, alone of aU the Con- 
tinental press, has brought out two special articles on Central Asia. The first, 
without any acknowledged leaning, points out the critical conditions of the 
approaching conflict ; the second, imbued with a Russian spirit, keeps time to 
the song of the English optimists ; for doing which I would not blame the 
writer, had he not cited several passages from my book as his own property. 



EIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 387 

So successfully had the Russian operations been 
started in Central Asia, that after a brilliant over- 
throw of the Kirghis, they entered first on the con- 
quest of Khokand, in order to gain firm- foothold in 
the three Khanats. In those eastern parts of the 
three oasis- countries of Turkestan the social order has 
ahvays been relatively least, the religious culture 
weakest, and the antipathy to warlike enterprises most 
strong. These were accompanied by internal dis- 
orders, for while the Khodjas through their inroads 
into Chinese territory on the east of the Khanat were 
always encountering the risk of a collision with China, 
which in bygone centuries did sometimes ensue, the 
greedy Ameers of Bokhara from the west have con- 
tinually laid the country waste with their wanton lust 
of conquest. Before the capture of Ak-Meshdjid the 
nearing columns of the mighty Russ on the north 
had but little place in the bazaar-talk of Namengan 
and Khokand. At the time of the miscarriage of 
Perovski's expedition Mehemed Ali Khan was seated 
on the throne. He was beloved and honoured, and 
the dazzled masses were much too wantmg in ideas 
of conquest, to think seriously of self-defence against 
the threatening foe on the north, or of Conolly's pro- 
jected alliance with Khiva. Not till after the death 
of Mehemed Ali ensued the fall of Ak-Meshdjid, the 
first serious wound in the Khanat's existence; and the 
Russian success was all the easier, because at that 
time their fighting powers were crippled, on one side 



388 SKETCHES OF CENTKAL ASIA. 

by the fierce conflict between Kirghis and Kiptchaks 
in the interior of the Khanat, and by the first attempt 
of Veh- Khan- Tore ao-ainst Kashsrar on the other. 
The storming columns of the Russians agamst the 
Khokandian fastnesses on either shore of the Yaxartes 
leave no cause to complain of cowardice, although the 
thousands of Khokandian warriors mentioned in the 
Russian accounts seem to rest on an over-keen eye- 
sight. 

After the capture of the last-named place, or, to 
speak more correctly, after a systematic restoration of 
the chain of fortresses along the Yaxartes, on whose 
waters the steamers of the Aral flotilla could now 
move freely about, the Russian power advanced with 
strides as gigantic as those with which Khokand, 
through the continuous working of the causes above- 
mentioned, continually fell away. The line of forts 
ofiered not only security against Turkestan, but was 
also a powerful bulwark against the Kirghis, who, 
being at length surrounded on all sides, could not so 
easily raise into the saddle an IsJied* as the last anti- 
Russian chief styled himself during the Crimean War. 
Thenceforth the work of occupation was pursued by 
the court of St. Petersburg with its wonted energy; 
and not till both the army corps, which were operating 
from the Chinese frontier to the Issik-kol, from the 
Sea of Aral along the Yaxartes, had drawn together 

* Ished, wliicli tlie Russians wrongly pronounce Iset, is a usual contrac- 
tion of " Eisli Mehemmed," wliicli signifies " Mohammed's delight." 



RIVALEY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 389 

southwards from the north-east and the north-west 
at Auha Ata, {Holy Father^ an ancient place of pil- 
grimage,) did Russian diplomacy deem it necessary 
to announce, in a despatch signed by Prmce Gort- 
shakofF on the 21st November, 1864, that the go- 
vernment of the Tzar had at length obtained its long- 
cherished desire to remove the boundary Ime of its 
possessions from the ill-defined region of the Sandy 
Desert to the inhabited portion of Turkestan; that the 
policy of aggression was now at an end, and that its 
one single aim in the future would be to demonstrate 
to the neighbouring Tartar states, with regard to then' 
independence, that Russia was far from being their 
foe, or mdulging m ideas of conquest, &c. &c. 

That no Cabinet save the English placed any more 
faith in such assurances than the Russian Minister 
himself, it is easy enough to imagine. The tale of 
ever-recurring conquests from vanquished states has 
long been notorious. We have instances thereof in 
every page of the world's history, in every age in 
which some power has set about enlarging itself. Just 
as the English are vainly apologising for Lord Dal- 
housie's thirst for annexation, or absorption in India, 
so are all Russian notes composed in a strain of over- 
flowmg politeness. It is only the natural course of 
things; and the court of St. Petersburg was right, 
could not indeed do otherwise, after settmg up a 
government in Turkestan, than follow the southern 
course of the Yaxartes ; and as the waste steppe 



390 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

formed at the first no defensible frontier, neither could 
the thmly-peopled neighbourhood of Tchemkend and 
Hazret furnish a better one. There was need of a 
well-inhabited region, to provide agamst being de- 
pendent merely on the means of communication from 
Orenburg and Semipalatinsk. Therefore was Tash- 
kend, rich and fertile Tashkend, doomed to incorpora- 
tion in Russian territory. 

It would be a profitless waste of time to quote as 
the maui cause of the Russian occupation of the last- 
named town, on the 25th June, 1865, the movuig 
history of the petition of the Tashkend merchants, of 
the numerous deputation that came beseechiagiy to 
the Russian camp, to obtain the shelter of the two- 
headed Eagle, whom the Central Asiatics call the 
ajder-kite^ a bird not greatly beloved of yore. Tash- 
kend, which fi'om time immemorial, lived at feud with 
the masters of Khokand, was latterly very much en- 
raged, because its darhng Khudayar was twice driven 
from his throne. To endamage the dommant m- 
fluence of theKliirgis by means of Russian supremacy, 
was for it a welcome idea; but it is not at all likely 
that the supremacy itself should have been generally 
desired. 

Russia has absorbed Tashkend, because she deemed 
it indispensable as a firm base for further operations; 
not, however, with a view to erecting therewith a bul- 
wark against possessions already secui-ed. Still it was 
through Tashkend that the court of St. Petersburg 



EIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 391 

had embroiled itself in hostilities with the Khanat of 
Bokhara. The Ameer, as we know, had earned for 
himself, through his campaign of 1863, the nommal 
right of suzerainty over the western part of Turkestan ; 
and though after his departure everything fell back 
into the old rut of Kiptchak lawlessness and party war- 
fare, he still thought to make good his right over all 
Khokand. He therefore wrote the commandant of the 
newly- conquered town a threatening letter, in which 
he summoned him to vacate the fortress. This, how- 
ever, gave small concern to the Russian general ; and, 
hearing that Colonel Struve, the famous astronomer, 
whom he had sent to Bokhara for a friendly settle- 
ment of the affair, had been forthwith taken prisoner, 
he burst forth on the 30th January, crossed the Yax- 
artes at Tashkend with fourteen companies of foot, six 
squadrons of Cossacks, and sixteen guns, with the pur- 
pose of gomg straight into Bokhara and punishing the 
Ameer for the violation of his envoy. 

This design, however, miscarried. The Russians 
had to retire, but did so in perfect order; and though 
countless hosts of Bokharians swarmed round them on 
every side, yet their loss was too insignificant to accord 
with the bombastic tales of triumph which the Bok- 
harians thereon trumpeted through all Islam, and which 
even found their way to us through the Levantine 
press. General Tchernaieff had excused himself on 
the plea that his hasty advance was intended merely 
to bafSe the movements of secret Enghsh emissaries, 



392 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

who were striving with all possible zeal after an Anglo- 
Bokharian alhance, and were also the main cause of 
his envoy, Colonel Struve's imprisonment. In Peters- 
burg, however, they could not pardon his mihtary 
failure : he was displaced from his high command, and 
General Romanofski went out in his stead. The latter 
moved forward with slow but all the more cautious 
steps. On the 12th April a flock of fifteen thousand 
sheep, escorted by four thousand Bokharian horsemen, 
was made prize of; and a month afterwards there en- 
sued, in the neighbourhood of Tchinaz, a fierce fight, 
called the battle of Irdshar, in which the Tartars were 
utterly beaten. On the 25th May fell the small fort 
of Nau ; and afterwards Khodshend, the third town in 
the Khanat of Khokand, was taken by storm ; but not 
without a hard fight, in which the Russians left on the 
field a hundred and thirty-three killed and wounded, 
the Tartars certauily ten times that number. The 
battle, however, was well worth the cost, for the forti- 
fications of this place were better than those of Tash- 
kend or of any other town in the Khanat. This was 
the second resting-point for the 'Russian arms on their 
march southward; and though the "Russian Invahd," 
in an official report concerning further projects, affirms 
that the conquest of that part of Bokhara which is 
severed from the rest of their possessions by the steppes 
could never become the goal of Russian operations, 
while for the present it would be entirely profitless, 
yet progress has already been made over Oratepe, 



KIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 398 

tlirougli the small districts of Djam and Yamin, as 
far as Djissag ; whilst everywhere important garrisons 
have been left behind. 

What has happened in the Khanat of Khokand itself 
during this triumphal march of the Russians, is a point 
no less worthy of our attention. The inhabitants, con- 
sisting of nomads, — rCEzbeg, and Tadjik or Sart, — were 
as much divided in their Russian likings and dislikes, 
as they were different from each other m race, condi- 
tion, and pursuits. The warlil?:e, powerful, and widely- 
courted Kiptchaks, being ancient foes of the oft- en- 
croaching Bokharians, who wanted to force upon them 
the hated Khudayar- Khan, immediately sided with the 
Russians. Their friendship was for these latter an 
important acquisition; and the friendly movement 
must have ah^eady begun, when the north-eastern 
army- corps came in contact with them in its forward 
struggle from Issikkol; for if this had not been the 
case, the Russian advance on that line would cer- 
tauily have been purchased at heavier cost. 

The CEzbegs, as being de jwe the dominant race, 
had defended themselves as well as they could; yet 
with their well-known lack of courage, firmness, and 
endurance, they had but small success ; and when they 
began to reflect that Russian rule would probably be 
no worse a misfortune than the incessant war with 
Bokhara, or their internal disorders, they prepared to 
accommodate themselves to inevitable fate. Only a 



394 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

few angry Ishans and Mollahs maintained an unfounded 
dread of Bokhara; the descendants, for example, of 
KhodjaAhmed Yeseviin Hazreti- Turkestan, who, how- 
ever, in all likelihood will soon go back to the bones of 
then' sacred forefathers, as the Russians assuredly will 
not hinder them from collecting pious alms among 
their pilgrims. Moreover, to the wealthier merchants 
of Tashkend, to the Sarts and Tadjiks, and a small 
number of Persian slaves, the Russian occupation 
seemed welcome and advantageous; for whilst the 
former expected considerable profit fr^om the admis- 
sion of their native town into the Russian customs- 
circle, the latter hope to be rescued from their oppressed 
condition through the downfall of OEzbeg ascendancy. 
As we may see from the correspondence addressed by 
General Krishanofski to a Moscow journal, it was these 
very Sarts who gave the Russians most help. Their 
Aksakals, not those of the OEzbegs, were the first to 
accept office under the Russians. In public places they 
always appear by the side of the Russian officers, harangue 
the people, and while Russian churches were getting 
built, spread about a report that His Majesty, having 
been converted by a vision in the night to Islam, was 
on the point of makmg a pilgrimage to Hazreti- Turkes- 
tan. From the length of their commercial intercourse 
with Russia, many of the Tadjiks, especially the Tash- 
kenders, are skilled in writing and speakmg Russian; 
they serve as interpreters and middle-men, and as 



EIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 395 

many of them reach the highest places in the melikeme 
(courts of justice) and other posts, the mam motive 
of their adherence is easy to apprehend. 

So far has it fared with the main line of operations 
in the Khanat of Khokand. On adjacent pomts like- 
wise, both eastern and western, has the work of trans- 
formation stealthily begmi. From Chinese Tartary 
we learn, that ever since 1864 the Chinese garrisons 
have been expelled, and replaced by a national govern- 
ment. First came disorders among the Tunganis, 
presently followed by the deliverance of Khoten, Yar- 
kand, Aksoo, and Kashgar; and although these dis- 
orders may have been caused at bottom by the tradi- 
tional dehght of the Khokandie Khodjas in free plunder- 
ing, still many of us are positively assured that the 
court of St. Petersburg countenanced all those revolu- 
tionary movements ; aye, and that the Kiptchaks, who 
are now masters of Kashgar, were helped to wm it 
by Russian arms. Such is the usual prelude to Rus- 
sian mterference. For a time these independent towns 
are permitted to carry on feuds and warfare against 
each other; but it is easy to foresee that their enmity 
will come to appear dangerous to the peace of the yet 
distant Russian fr'ontier; and if haply the court of 
Pekin be in no hurry to restore order, the Russians 
are very certain to forestal it on that poiut ere long. 
The English press comforts itself with remarking, that 
the insuperable barrier of the Kuen-Lun mountams 
renders further progress towards Kashmir impossible ; 



396 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. 

and that this Russian diversion is only for the good of 
Central- Asiatic trade. For the moment, however, we 
will put aside the discussion of this question, preferring 
to glance at that part of Central Asia which inchnes 
westward from Khokand. Albeit engaged in war 
mth Bokhara, Russia has hitherto made no attack on 
the real territory of that State, for Djissag is the law- 
ful boundary between the former and Khokand. About 
this well-known seat of the struggle with Bokhara, 
there is only a diplomatic skirmish, which still goes 
on, under whose cover the revolution of Shehr-i-Sebz 
holds its ground. For, even if the Russian press 
denies for the thousandth time all interference, yet 
the appearance of the Aksakal of Shehr-i-Sebz m Tash- 
kend cannot be regarded as unimportant. It is, at 
any rate, noticeable with reference to the Russian 
plans in Khiva. The settled portion of the Khanat 
proper has not yet been touched by Russian influence, 
and only in the north, since the destruction of the 
fortress of Khodja-Niyaz, on the Yaxartes, have some 
Cossack and Karakalpak hordes, skirting the eastern 
shore of the Sea of Aral, been converted into Russian 
subjects. 

2. Russia's Future Policy. 

Our sketch of Russian progress in Central Asia fur- 
nishes its own evidence of the way in which the pohcy 
of the court of St. Petersburg will follow out its pur- 
pose in the immediate future. 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 397 

The most southern, therefore the most advanced, 
outposts rest on Djissag. This word, in Central 
Asiatic, means a hot, burning spot, and its position m 
the deep, cauldron-hke valley of the Ak-Tau hills en- 
tirely justifies the name. Owing to its utterly un- 
wholesome climate, and the great want of water, the 
population of this station on the way to Khokand is 
but very small; and that the Russians have selected 
it for a more abiding resting-place, I cannot beheve, 
in spite of the aforenamed asseverations of the " Rus- 
sian Invahd," and in spite of the contrary opinion of 
the learned writer of the article. Central Asia, in the 
" Quarterly Review." Not only is it an unhealthy 
and barely tenable post; but a lengthened stay here 
must also be acknowledged as most impohtic. The 
gentlemen on the banks of the Neva know well what 
Bokhara is in the eyes of all Central Asia, I might 
even say of all Mohamedans. They know that on 
the Zerefshan may be sought the special fount of reli- 
gious ideas and modes of thought, not only for the mass 
of Central Asiatics, but for Indians, Afghans, Nogay 
Tartars, and other fanatics. In order to achieve a 
grand stroke, the Ameer, who styles himself Prince of 
of all true believers, must be made to recognise the 
supremacy of the white Tzar ; the holy and honoured 
Bokhara, where the air exhales the aromatic fragrance 
of the Fatiha and readmgs from the Koran, must learn 
to reverence the might of the black unbehevers ; and 
the crowd of crazy fanatics, of rehgious enthusiasts, 



398 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

must acknowledo;e that the influence of the samts who 
rest in her soil is not strong enough to blunt the point 
of the Russian bayonet. The fall of Bokhara will be 
a fearful example for the whole Islamite world; the 
dust of her ruins will penetrate the farthest distance, 
like a mighty waming-cry. For this must the court 
of St. Petersburg assuredly be striving, and ready to 
strive. 

From this stand-pomt it is therefore most probable 
that the greatest attention will henceforth be paid 
to the line of operations from Tashkend, Khodjend, 
and Samarkand. The conquest of the whole Khanat 
of Khokand may also follow in time, for that offers no 
special difficulties; but the chief mterest lies in the 
maintenance and security of the roads of communica- 
tion, on which the advancing army, in concert with 
the strong garrisons in the now well-fortified Tash- 
kend and the northern forts, as also with the govern- 
ments of Orenburg and Semipalatinsk, will move along 
a road furnished with an unbroken Hne of wells. The 
Ameer may have recourse to all possible means of gain- 
ing the friendship of the Russians, in which he has 
hitherto failed ; he may send to Constantinople as many 
Job's messengers as he will; he may despatch ever so 
many friendly invitations to the Durbar of the Indian 
Viceroy : but all that wiU do him no good. The town 
of Bokhara shall, with or without his leave, be governed 
by an Ispravnik ; for the Russians dare not and cannot 
rest, until ancient Samarkand and Nakhsheb (Karshi), 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 399 

or the whole right bank of the Oxus has been absorbed 
into the gigantic possessions of the House of Romanojff. 
That this catastrophe, this last hour of Transoxanian 
independence, will not be brought about so easily as 
the heretofore successes m Central Asia, is manifest 
enough. Already in my mind's eye do I behold a 
frantic troop of Mollahs and Ishans, with thousands of 
students, roammg the Khanats with holy rage, in order 
to preach the Djihad (religious war) among the Af- 
ghans, Turkomans, Karakalpaks; and gomg through 
scenes of the deepest, the devoutest anguish, in order 
to draw down the curse of God on the foreign intruder. 
The death-struggle will be fierce but profitless. So 
far as I know the Khivans and the Afghans, I deem 
the notion of a general alhance with Bokhara to be 
quite impracticable ; for, if such was their inclination, 
they should have formed one long ago. No egotism, 
no pohtical combinations, but the greatest want of 
prmciple alone, an utter recklessness of the future, 
will keep them quiet until Hamiibal stands before their 
gates. In vain shall we look for any efibrt after a 
general league, either in Central Asia, or even among 
any of the other Eastern nations. As the very war- 
hke Afghans could play their part with a force of dis- 
ciplined auxiharies, so also might the Khan of Khiva 
join the Ameer's army with twenty to thirty thousand 
horse. Yet this is what neither the one nor the other 
will do. To unite them under one command might 
be possible for a Timur or a Djinghiz ; and even then 



400 SItETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

the smallest booty miglit stir up rancour aud dissen- 
sions in their ranks. So, too, the hundred thousand 
well - mounted Turkomans, who inhabit the broad 
steppes from this side the Oxus to the Persian fron- 
tier, are utterly useless for the rescuing of the Holy 
City. Their Ishans, indeed, if summoned by their 
fellow-priests in noble Bokhara and by the Ameer, 
might do their very best to stir up the wild sons of 
the desert to a holy warfare : but I know the Turko- 
mans too well not to be sure that they will take part 
in the Djihad only so long as the Ameer can offer 
them good pay and the prospect of yet richer booty; 
and as they sometimes owned in Afghan- Persian offices, 
it is most likely that the Russian imperialists will soon 
turn them into excellent brothers-in-arms of the Cos- 
sacks. Enthusiasm for the creed of the Prophet ex- 
isted, if I remember rightly, only for the first hundred, 
indeed I might say only for the first fifty years. What 
Islam afterwards accomphshed in Anatolia, in the em- 
pire of Constantine, in the islands of the Mediterranean, 
in Hungary, and in Germany, was due to the impulse 
of a wild daring in quest of booty and treasures, and 
a hankering after adventures. Where these leading 
incentives failed, there was a failure m zeal; and I 
repeat that, although the struggle will be a stern one, 
the speedy triumph of Russian arms in Bokhara is 
open to not the slightest doubt. 

With the fall of the mightiest and most influential 
part of Turkestan, will Khokand, of her ovm accord, 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 401 

exchange a protection for the manifest sovereignty of 
the white Tzar. Khiva however, undaunted by the 
example, will, to all seeming, take up the struggle 
nevertheless. The conquest of Kharezm, moreover, 
though easier than that of Khokand, is connected with 
remarkable difficulties. With the exception of two 
towns, whose uihabitants are better known through 
their commercial relations with Russia, the (Esbeg 
population of this Ivhanat abhor the name of Russian. 
In courage, they stand much higher than the men of 
Khokand and Bokhara, and, protected by the forma- 
tion of their native land, will cause much trouble to 
the Russian troops from the way of fighting peculiar 
to the Turkoman race. As for the view upheld by 
many geographers and travellers, that the Oxus will 
form the main road of the expedition, I am bound to 
meet it "with the same denial as before. That river, 
on account of its great irregularity and the fluid sea 
of sand borne down upon its waves, is hard of passage 
for small vessels, not to speak of ships of war. Not 
a year passes without its changing its bed several miles 
in the shifting ground of the steppes ; and if the Rus- 
sians were not quite convinced of this circumstance, 
the small steamers of the Aral- Sea flotilla, built as 
they were for river navigation, would have begun 
forcing their way inland by the Oxus, mstead of the 
Yaxartes. For although the smaller forts, such as 
Kungrad, Kiptchak, and Maugit, which were built on 
the fortified heights by the left bank of the river, 

26 



402 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

might do harm to a flotilla passmg near; yet, owing 
to the sad state of the Khivan artillery, they are hardly 
worth considering. Attempts to pass up the river, 
from its mouths to Kungrad, where the stream is 
deepest and most regular, have already been tried; 
still, the fact of their remaining merely attempts, 
clearly shows that the navigation of the Deryai Amus 
(Oxus), if not altogether impossible, is a hard prob- 
lem nevertheless. 

These, however, are but secondary drawbacks, and 
in Khiva, as in Bokhara, the white Tzar will be raised 
aloft upon the white carpet of the Kharezmian princes, 
if not through the grey-beards of the Tshagatay race, 
at any rate by his own bayonets and rifled guns. 

The conquest of the whole right bank of the Ganges 
once assured to them, the strip of land from Issikkol 
to the Sea of Aral once come into full possession 
of the Russians, and well provided with excellent 
victualling-stores, then will the game of diplomacy 
have begun in Afghanistan also. Among the Afghans 
the court of St. Petersburg will not intervene so sud- 
denly with arms in hand; not because England's mis- 
carriage in 1839 has made it cautious, but because 
such a procedure is by no means customary with the 
Russians. That, moreover, would be partly super- 
fluous, partly beyond the mark, amidst the now prover- 
bial dismiion of Dost Mohammed's successors. Where 
brother rages against brother in deadliest feud, where 
intrigues caused by greed and vanity are ever in full 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 403 

swing; there the secret agent, the kind word, a few 
friendly lines of writing, are much more profitable 
than a sudden assault with the armed hand. Hitherto, 
in his brother- strife against Shere-Ali-Khan, Abdur- 
rahman-Khan has in no way entangled himself with 
Russian agents, although he sought to frighten the 
Enghsh moonshee (agent), by bringiug some such 
conception to his notice. That he was greatly inclined 
to such a step I have not the slightest doubt; but as 
yet the Russians have given him no encouragement to 
take it. For if the Afghan opponents of Shere-Ali- 
Khan, the Ameer accredited by England, had received 
but the faintest wink from the Neva, they would never 
have coquetted with Sir John Lawrence in Calcutta. 
Not only chiefs and princes, but every Afghan war- 
rior, nay, every shepherd on the Hilmund, puts his 
trust in the idea of Russian trade ; and I have a hun- 
dred times over convinced myself how easily, indeed 
how gladly, these people would embrace a Russian 
alliance against the masters of Peshawar. Whether 
the fruits of such a friendship would be wholesome, 
and conduce to the interests of Afghanistan, no one 
takes mto question. The Afghans, like all Asiatics, 
look only to the interests of the moment, see only the 
harm which Afghans have suffered in Kashmere and 
Sindh through English ascendancy, have a lively re- 
membrance of the last sojourn of the red-jackets in 
Kabul and Kandahar; and though every one knows 
that the Kaffirs of Moscow are very little better than 



404 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

the Feringhies, still, from an impulse of revenge, they 
all desire and will prefer an alliance mth the North to 
a good understanding with England. 

Hence it is but a friendly regard, it is only a com- 
pact upheld not by treaties, but by a strong force on 
the Oxus, which the Russians can aim at for some 
time to come. 

The same kind of relation must be then' object m 
Persia. Here too, for the last ten years, has the 
court of St. Petersburg been playing a lucky game. 
Since the appearance of Russian envoys at the splendid 
court of the Sofies, in the time of Khardin, until now, 
Russian influence has gone through many phases. At 
first scorned and disregarded, the Russians have risen 
into the strongest and most dangerous opponent of 
Iran. Whilst, in the days of Napoleon I., England 
and France, to the profit and partial aggrandisement of 
the Shah, vied with each other m turning to account 
their influence at the court of Teheran, Russia, as "in- 
ter duos certantes tertius gaudens," quietly smoothed 
her way to the conquest of the countries beyond the 
Caucasus, to the profitable treaties of Guhstan and 
Turkmanshay. And while the same Western Powers 
persevered in that policy, the Colossus of the North 
took up such a position on the Caucasus as well as the 
Caspian Sea, that its shadow stretched not only over 
the northern rim of Iran, but far also into the country. 
At the time of Sir Henry Rawlinson's embassy, Eng- 
lish influence was near being in the ascendant; but 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 405 

since then it has been continually smking ; for however 
lavish of gold and greetings the English policy might 
be in Malcohn's days, it showed itself just as cold and 
indifferent from the time of Mac Neil do^vnwards. 
Both the Shah and his ministers seem urged on by 
necessity to accept the Russians as their Mentor. It 
is not from any conviction of a happier future that 
they have flung away from the fatherly embraces of 
the British Lion into the arms of the Northern Bear ; 
and the Shah must dance for good or ill to the song 
which the latter growls out before him. 

If now, in accordance with the aforeshown position 
of the Russian power and pohcy in Central Asia, we 
cast a glance on the frontier, stretching for 13,000 
versts wide, from the Japanese Sea to the Circassian 
shore of the Black Sea, where Russia is always in con- 
tact with so many peoples of different origin and dif- 
ferent rehgion, over whose future her aggressive policy 
hangs lilve the doomful sword of a Damocles ; we shall 
soon be driven to observe that, although the southern 
outjDosts m Asia are on the Araxes, yet the only point 
where, m their farther advance, they impmge on a 
European power is to be found in Central Asia. Sepa- 
rated twenty years ago from British India's northern 
frontier by the great horde of the Khirgis and the 
Khanats, the space at this moment left between Djis- 
sag and Peshawar, although the difficult road over the 
Hmdu-Kush lies midway, amounts to no more than 
fifteen, days' journey, and in reckoning by miles to 



406 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

hardly a hundred and twenty geographical miles. For 
an army the road, though difficult, is not insuperable, 
while it should be tolerably easy for the development 
of political influence ; and for all England's readiness 
to see a mighty bulwark for her frontier in the snow- 
crowned peaks of the Hindu-Kush, she forgets the ease 
with which a Russian propaganda from the banks of 
the Oxus can smooth a way hence towards the north 
of Sindh. From the moment, indeed, when the Rus- 
sian flag waves in Karshi, Kerki, and Tchardshuy, may 
England regard this power as her nearest neighbour. 

3. Russia's Views on India; and English 
Optimists. 

Has Russia any serious views, then, on British India ? 
Will she attack the British Lion in his rich possessions ? 
Does her ambition really reach so far, that she would 
wield her mighty sceptre over the whole continent of 
Asia, from the icy shores of the Arctic Sea to Cape 
Comorin? These are questions of needful interest, 
not to Englishmen only, but to all Europeans. On 
the bank of the Thames as well as in Calcutta, states- 
men have latterly answered them in the negative ; for 
their organs, official and unofficial, regard the utmost 
danger of the meeting as a neighbourhood of frontiers, 
and not an aggression ; a neighbourhood which, so far 
from imperilhng Enghsh interests, will be altogether 
to their advantage. These gentlemen are sadly at 
fault, for the spirit of Russia's traditional pohcy, — her 



EIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 407 

steadfast clinging to the schemes before indicated, the 
unbounded ambition of the House of Romanoff, the 
immense accumulation of means at their disposal for 
the accomphshment of their designs, — place in surer 
prospect the fulfilment of any aim on which they have 
once bent their gaze. Russia wants India first of all 
in order to set so rich a pearl in the splendid diamond 
of her Asiatic possessions; a pearl, for whose attain- 
ment she has so long, at so heavy a cost, been levelling 
the way through the most barren steppes in the world ; 
next, in order to lend the greatest possible force to her 
influence over the whole world of Islam (whose greatest 
and most dangerous foe she has now become), because 
the masters of India have reached, in Mohamedan eyes, 
the non-plus-ultra of might and greatness ; and lastly, 
by taming the British Lion on the other side the Hindu- 
Kush, to work out with greater ease her designs on 
the Bosphorus, in the Mediterranean, indeed all over 
Europe ; since no one can now doubt that the Eastern 
question may be solved more easily beyond the Hmdu- 
Kush than on the Bosphorus : for if, at the time of the 
Crimean War, when Nana Sahib's brother was feted at 
Sevastopol, Russia had held her present position on the 
Yaxartes, the plans of Tzar Nicholas on Constantinople 
would not have been so easily buried under the ruins 
oftheMalakhoff. 

These far-reaching designs may not, perhaps, be the 
work of the next years, nor even of the Government 
of the peaceful and well-disposed Alexander ; yet who 



408 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

can assure us that after him no Nicholas, or no yet 
sterner nature than his, may succeed to the throne, 
who will thwart the desire of a Tauuur or a Nadir to 
come forth as a thoroughly Asiatic conqueror of the 
world? What a Russian, autocrat can do in the pre- 
sent condition of Russia, in the present social position 
of his subjects, who, moreover, will long continue such, 
every one knows, and the statesmen of England best 
of all. It is, therefore, the more remarkable, that these 
gentlemen should think to put the said eventualities 
so easily aside, and to contest the question of a Russian 
invasion of India with arguments so very shallow. 
They usually bring forward the unpassable glaciers of 
Hmdu-Kush and the Himalayas, and the swarms of 
hostile nomads which would hem in a force advancing 
from the north on its way southward. They console 
themselves with the great distance, which would brmg 
an invading army to the Indian frontier tired and ex- 
hausted, while the English troops lying by, ready to 
strilvc at their ease, and strong in military zeal and 
training, awaited the shock of war with greediness. 
But do these gentlemen believe that Russia, in the 
event of her really cherishmg these sort of views, would 
dispatch her invadmg armies thitherwards direct from 
Petersburg, Moscow, or Archangel? What end is 
served by the South- Siberian forts? What by Tash- 
kend, Khodshend, and still more afterwards, by Bok- 
hara and Samarkand? What, too, by the Persian- 
Afo-han alliance? What did the Cossacks and the 



EIVALRY BETWEEN EUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 409 

Russian troops of the line do in Gunib, and in the 
rugged hills of Circassia? Were they exhausted when 
they reached then' journey's end? And the latter 
station is not so much farther from the capital on the 
Neva, than Peshawar is from the cities just named! 
And why are we to assume that Russia would choose 
only the difficult road through Balkh to Kabul, and 
thence through the Khyber Pass, and none other? 
Without mentioning that this could have been so fatal 
to the Enghsh army of 1839, which fled in affright 
and disorder, for the march thither cost no especial 
sacrifices ; the road through Herat and Kandahar, the 
proper caravan-course to India through the Bolan Pass, 
is far more convenient. The latter, fifty-four or five 
Enghsh miles in length, did indeed cost the Bengal 
corps of the army of the Indus many days' toil; and 
yet we read in a trustworthy English author that the 
passage of 24-pounder howitzers and 18 -pounder guns 
caused no particular trouble. Or why should the 
Russians not force the Gomul or the Gulari Pass, 
called also the middle road from Hindostan to Khoras- 
san, which, accordmg to Burnes, serves the Lohani 
Afghans as their main road of communication, and 
ofi'ers no especial difficulties? 

It is too hard, indeed, to scatter the sanguine views 
of the Enghsh optimists with regard to the strength 
of their fancied bulwarks. The way through Kabul 
would have to be taken only in case of necessity; for 
the chief points by which Russia could quite easily 



410 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

approach the Indian frontiers are Djhissag and Astra- 
bad; from the former in a southerly, from the latter 
in an easterly direction. Both roads have often led 
armies, time out of mind, to the goal of their desires ; 
for both, though bordered by large deserts, pass through 
well-peopled, even fertile districts, which can support 
many thousands of marching men with ease. 

Indeed, even the chances of an eventual war are 
greatly over-estimated by the English. True, that 
their present army m India, numbering 70,000 picked 
British troops besides the strong contingent of sepoys, 
is not to be compared with any of their former fightiug 
forces in those regions. To throw as strong a muster 
across Afghanistan into the Punjaub, would certainly 
cost Russia some trouble. Still we must not forget 
how stout a support an invadiug army would find in a 
Persian- Afghan alliance, and in the great discontent 
which prevails in the Punjaub, m Kashmir, in Bhotan, 
and among the fanatic Mohamedans of India. The 
ever-broadening network of Indian railways may do 
much to hasten and promote a concentration; but the 
fountain-head of military support for India being on 
the Thames or the islands of the Mediterranean, is not 
much nearer than that of the Russians, especially if 
we consider that more than three hundred vessels sail- 
ing down the Volga make the transport to the southern 
shore of the Caspian Sea considerably easier. By this 
road may a large army be brought in a short time to 
Herat and Kandahar through the populous part of 



EIVALEY BETWEEN EUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 411 

nortliern Persia; on the one hand through Astrabad, 
Bujnurd, and Kabushan; on the other, by the railway 
as yet only projected to Eneshed. This railroad the 
Tzar wants to build for the rehef of the pilgrimage to 
the tomb of Imam Kizah ; yet through all the Russian 
promises of subsidies there gleam forth other and non- 
religious plans. Or would people in England, besides 
the no longer doubtful possibility of a Russian design 
upon India, measure the political constellations which 
the said power has called into being on her behalf, in 
the field of European diplomacy ? The Russian-French 
alhance of a Napoleon I. and an Alexander I., which 
left noticeable traces in Teheran, would now be much 
easier to enter on than before, owing to the dominant 
influence of France in Egypt and Syria, through the 
commencement of the Suez Canal. And these things 
apart, will not the ever-increasing entente cordiale be- 
tween Washington and St. Petersburg prove of signal 
advantage for Russia's purposes? People scoff at the 
way m which the Yankee cap entwines itself with the 
Russian knout ; and yet the banquets on the Neva, at 
which American brotherhood was vigorously toasted, 
the journey of the Tzarovitch to New York, the mighty 
show made by America m China and Japan, where 
she threatens to turn the calm face of ocean into an 
American lake; — do not these things furnish ample 
reason for discerning in the alliance between Russia 
and America symptoms of the greatest danger for 
Enghsh interests ? Indeed, when the decisive moment 



412 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

comes for acting, Russia will be able to avail herself 
of many ways and many means, which, however little 
worthy of notice they may seem to English statesmen, 
will be carefully pre-arranged without any noise. 

Nevertheless, we are "willing to allow that the actual 
shock will follow only in some very distant future. 
Gladly, too, will we bear to be pomted at as a false 
prophet. But how is it that Enghsh statesmen will 
proclaim as harmless the more and more manifest ad- 
vance of their northern rival; how disguise and pal- 
liate the mischievous menace of that rival's aims ? 

The body of English politicians friendly to Russia 
is wont, whenever this question comes up for discus- 
sion, to reply that the neighbourhood of a well-ordered 
State is more acceptable to them, than several wild 
nomad tribes living in anarchy and plunder. An Eng- 
lishman once asked me, whether I would not prefer to 
sit beside an elegantly-dressed fine gentleman, instead 
of a dirty and uncouth boor. People may wish success 
with all theu' might to a Muscovite neighbour ; yet to 
me it is not at all clear, why those gentlemen should 
wish for the neighbourhood of a sly and powerful ad- 
versary in the room of an unpohshed but essentially- 
powerless foe. What happened once in America, m 
the north of Africa, and even on Indian ground, be- 
tween rismg England on the one hand, and waning 
Holland and Portugal on the other, has often been 
and will yet often be repeated in the pages of history. 
As m ordmary life two strong, selfish mdividuals, will 



EIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 413 

but rarely thrive in one same path ; so does the same 
impossibility exist in the case of two States; — a fact, 
of which the long war between France and England 
for the superiority in India furnishes the best proof. 
Even if she followed the best aims, how could Russia, 
backed as she is by the gigantic power of the whole 
Asiatic contment ; — she, whose pohcy for the last hun- 
dred years, has led her through desert regions with a 
perseverance so great, at a cost so lavish, — refuse a 
hearing at once to her own designs and to the insmua- 
tions of her abettors? Will she have sufficient self- 
control to forbear from profiting by the happy occa- 
sion which plays mto her hands the Mohamedan popu- 
lation of India, more than thirty millions strong ? The 
last-named, being the most fanatical of all who profess 
Islam, are filled with unspeakable hatred of the British 
rule. Their religious zeal, fostered on one side by 
Bokhara, on the other by the Wahabies, goes so far, 
that, in order to drain the cup of martyrdom, they 
often murder a British officer walking harmlessly about 
the bazaar, and even give themselves up to the heads- 
man's axe.* In India, where religious enthusiasm has 
ever found a most fruitful soil, Islam has revealed 
itself in the oddest forms. The brotherhoods intro- 
duced in the days of the Taimurides, are there more 
powerful and important than elsewhere ; and not Scoat 
alone, but every place has an 'Akhond of its own to 
show, whose summons to a crusade would be followed 

* Quei'y — Hangman's haltei* ? (Trans.) 



414 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. 

by thousands. In spite of the manifold blessings which 
English rule has secured to the Mohamedans, it is they 
alone who form the nest of revolutions; they alone 
who gave most support to the rebellion in its last dis- 
orders ; they alone who take chief delight in conspirmg 
for a Russian occupation, and proclaim in all directions 
the advantages of Muscovite rule. 

Should we not also take this occasion to think of the 
Armenians, who, scattered through Persia and India, 
form siQgle links of the chain wherewith the court of 
St. Petersburg conducts the electric stream of its in- 
fluence from the Neva to the Ganges; aye, even to 
the shores of Java and Sumatra? The hard-working, 
wealthy Armenians, who in their rehgious sentiments 
are inclined to be more cathohc than the Papist, more 
Russian, more orthodox than the Tzar himself, will 
assuredly not recommend the Protestant church and 
Protestant power to the natives of India, to the injury 
of supremely Christian Russia. How many zealous sub- 
jects of British rule in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, 
are not enrolled at Petersburg as yet more zealous 
promoters of Russian interests! Every member of 
this church in Asia is to be regarded as a secret agent 
of Muscovite policy; and if the moment came for a 
decision, the Enghsh would be amazed to see what 
kind of chrysahs emerged from this rehgious, moral, 
free and industrious people. 

How, then, can England look on with indifference, 
to say nothing of her desire to have as neighbour a 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 415 

great and certainly unfriendly power, in a land where 
such inflammable elements are to be found? Trade 
will spring up, I hear from all sides; yet, to all seem- 
ing, the prospect of the commercial advantages, which 
British statesmen behold in Russia's oncoming, and in 
the removal of anarchical conditions in Central Asia, 
rests rather on a pretended hope than on true convic- 
tion. Is it not strange, that a people, so practical in 
its ways of thinking as the English, should for one 
moment entertain the hope that some profit would 
arise for England out of the plans which Russia has 
followed up for years with toil, and expense, and self- 
sacrifice ; that English goods will get the upper hand in 
the markets of Central Asia, as soon as they have passed 
mider the Russian rule ? Henry Davies, in his commer- 
cial report, may point to the considerable figures which 
the export trade through Peshawar, Karachie, and La- 
dak, to Central Asia, has to show ; and yet he must allow 
that this would be ten times larger, were it supported 
by English influence beyond the frontier of northern 
India. And in the same proportion will it diminish, 
in which the Russian eagle spreads out his Avings over 
those regions. To Lord William Hay's plan for lay- 
ing down a commercial road through Ladak, Yarkend, 
Issikol, and Semipalatinsk, the Petersburg cabinet has 
given its seeming assent ; yet, in fact, nobody wanted 
to support the plan, nor will it occur to any Russian 
statesman to carry it out. The Chinese are far supe- 
rior not only to the Russians, but even to the English, 



416 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

in mercantile zeal ; and yet they trade along the great 
commercial road from Pekin through South Siberia 
only to Maimatshin, while from Kiachta the Chinese 
ex]3orts are forwarded, mainly through Russian hands, 
to Petersburg and Europe. And how fared the Itahan 
silk merchants, who, under Russian protection, found 
their way to Bokhara, but were there arrested and 
robbed of their goods and possessions ? One of them, 
Gavazzi, lets us feel very forcibly in his report, that 
he could never place full faith in Russian letters com- 
mendatory, in spite of all after applications from St. 
Petersburg. The products of Enghsh manufacturmg 
towns are wont to drive Russian manufactures out of 
every market. The merchants of Khiva and Bokhara 
still carry with them Russian articles from Nijni- Nov- 
gorod and Orenburg, which they sell to Central Asiatics 
under the name of Ingilis 7nali, or English wares ; such 
bemg always m most demand among the latter. People 
in England forget that plain dealmg will for some time 
yet be wanting to Russian policy, and that, on the 
commercial roads which its arms have opened out, it 
will throw, of a certainty, in the way of foreign inte- 
rests, obstacles of a like nature, if not indeed the same, 
as one now meets with from Afghan rapacity, from 
(Ezbeg lawlessness, on the commercial roads to the 
Oxus. In the year 1864-5 America alone disposed of 
more than fifteen miUion pounds' worth of hnen and 
cotton goods, which was naturally possible only under 
the free mstitutions of England. Do the gentlemen 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 417 

in Calcutta expect any similar dealings with the Rus- 
sians ? 

Ephemeral, alas! are the calculations formed by- 
people in England on behalf of Russia's future policy 
with reference to India. Just as the fabric of security 
which the statesmen of Downing Street are now build- 
ing withm their brains, can soon be shattered to the 
ground; so the arguments for a future entente cordiale 
are but slight indeed. Instead of a bootless refuta- 
tion, we would rather point out former mistakes, would 
rather touch on the means by which the danger of a 
direct colhsion, — that most perilous of all games for 
Enghsh mterests, — may yet be avoided. 

4. Russian Gains and the Disadvantages of 
English Policy. 

In order thoroughly to understand the misconcep- 
tions of English politicians concerning their Russian 
rivals, it is necessary for us to consider all the advan- 
tages which the latter always enjoyed, and still enjoy, 
on the field of action. In Europe, we are wont to 
look with amazement on Russia's gigantic empire in 
Asia ; and yet nobody thinks of the means which have 
rendered essential service towards the acquisition of it. 
The Russians are Asiatics, not so much m consequence 
of their descent as of their geographical position and 
their social relations; and it is only because with the 
Asiatic laisser-aller they combine the steadfastness and 
resolution of Europeans, that they have mostly been a 

27 



418 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

match for the Asiatic races. In their contact with 
Chinese, Tartars, Persians, Circassians and Turks, they 
have always shown themselves as Chinese, Tartar, Per- 
sian, and so forth, according to circumstances. An 
Enghsh historian says, pretty coiTectly, if not without 
ill-will, that the Russians moved forward hke a tiger. 
" At first, creeping cautiously and gliding stealthily 
through the dust, until the favourable moment admits 
of its taking the fatal spring. With smiles of peace 
and friendship, with soft smooth words on their emis- 
saries' part, have they often averted every fear, every 
precaution, until the certain success of their schemes 
made all fears profitless, and baffled every precaution. 
Bluid, therefore, and ill-advised must every govern- 
ment be, which can go to sleep over Russian advances to- 
wards its frontiers, be those never so slow, or the interval 
between the conqueror and the goal of his endeavours 
be never so great!" As Asiatics, they are wont to 
hold out less rudely against their neighbours in man- 
ners, customs, and modes of thought, than the Enghsh, 
for whom, on account of their higher culture, such a 
renunciation would be a great sacrifice, mcompatible 
with their efibrts after civilisation. They seldom ofiend 
against the national ways of thuiking, and easily con- 
form to them when their interests require it. In Eng- 
land the Government has hitherto disdained to place 
itself in direct correspondence with the Ameer of Bok- 
hara, for what the chief city in Zarif-Khan obtained 
up to this date from the British cabinet was always 



EIVALKY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 419 

enjoyed through the Governor- General of India. In 
Russia they think differently; and even the haughty 
Nicholas, that stern autocrat, who long shrank from 
callmg the French emperor "mon frere," behaves, in 
in presence of the Tartar princes of Central Asia, not 
as Emperor of all the Russias, but as a Khan on the 
Neva. As a result of such procedure, we find the 
nations all along the Russian frontier of Asia, whether 
nomad or settled, Boodhist or Mohamedan, in such a 
state of intimacy at this moment, if not of actual friend- 
ship, mth the Russians, as happens nowhere else in 
the foreign possessions of a European power. 

These advantages, however, of Asiatic modes of 
thought, which might properly be specified as exces- 
sive slyness and craftiness, are, even in political inter- 
course, far more profitable than the open and upright 
language employed on principle by Englishmen from 
of old. It is only Great Britain's foes in Europe, only 
the enviers of her power, who can find fault with the 
English in India; and yet whoever is sufiiciently in- 
formed as to their political dealings with native princes 
and neighbours on the border, whoever is thoroughly 
conversant with Asiatic character, will, in the utter 
absence of this very defect, discover the one great fault 
of English statesmen. 

From the largest province on the Amoor, to the 
smallest of the possessions latest won by Russia on 
Asiatic ground, may we always find one same proce- 
dure of intrigues and wiles, — a scattering of the seeds 



420 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

of discord, bribery and corruption, through the vilest 
means, — all serving as forerunners of invasion. Men 
come first through commercial relations in contact with 
foreign elements; then the slightest differences come 
to be readily employed as casus belli ; failing these, the 
ground will be undermined by emissaries, the chiefs 
bribed by presents, or bemuddled with lavish draughts 
of vodki (Russian brandy), and drawn on into the 
dano;erous mao;ic circle. A well-founded cause of war 
and of invasion would nowhere be easy to discover; 
and certauily the gigantic emph^e of the House of 
Eomanoff has been builded up more through the wiles 
of its Asiatic statesmen than by the might of its arms. 
Moreover, in consequence of the quahties lately named, 
Russia is more conversant "svith the relations of Asiatic 
peoples, far better informed of all that is passmg in the 
border-states, than the English and other Europeans. 
To the great watchfulness of her emissaries, to the 
unwearied zeal of her diplomatists, is she indebted for 
the fact that her cabinet is often more quickly and 
fully informed of the most private dohigs of her neigh- 
bours, than the particular native government itself. 
Passing over the fact that, in Petersburg, a company 
of the cleverest men can make money out of their ex- 
periences through the different parts of Asia, there is 
here and there a Kkghis, a Buryat, a Circassian, or a 
Mongol, who, after being trained in Russian learning 
and modes of thought, becomes a most serviceable 
tool against the wholly or half- subjected land of his 
birth. 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 421 

In England we meet everywhere with the sharpest 
contrasts. 

Whoever is aware of the great ignorance of pnbHc 
opinion in England about events in India, about the 
relations between those great possessions and the neigh- 
bourmg States; whoever in the course of a year has 
noted down those absurd and ridiculous news, those 
telegraphic despatches in the English papers, which 
reach Europe and England through Bombay and Cal- 
cutta; whoever is aware of the very small number of 
English statesmen who are so carefully informed on 
Asiatic relations, that they can pass a sound judgement 
on questions of Eastern pohcy; — such a one must 
surely be amazed at the way in which Great Britain 
founded her foreign possessions, to say nothing of her 
bemg able to hold them until now. 

And just as even those among the English pubhc 
who have lived anytime in India have kept aloof from the 
natives, in accordance with their national character, and 
are but seldom conversant with their language and man- 
ners, — so, too, can the Enghsh Government entrust to 
naturahzed Levantines, and not to Englishmen, the Dra- 
gomanate, that necessary organ of mutual intercourse, 
in such important embassies as that, for instance, of 
Constantinople. While Russia, France and Austria, 
have long had Oriental academies for diplomatic be- 
gianers; in England, with her rich dower of colleges, 
schools, and universities, no one has ever thought of 
such an institution. And so again m the legislative 



422 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

body as well as in the ministry, where the smallest 
questions often have a special advocate, there are but 
very few men competent to discuss the important rela- 
tions in Asia; and even these, on account of the pre- 
vailing nepotism, are but seldom allowed to turn their 
experiences to account. 

This indifference must surprise all foreigners. Still 
more amazed will they be to hear men of the liberal 
party say: "What does Asia concern us; what the 
swarm of barbarous races that cause us more trouble 
than profit; what the wealth of India, whose income 
has long ceased to cover her expenditure, to say nothiag 
about the costs of the conquest?" I have often heard 
remarks of this kind from the most famous leaders of 
this party. The sincerity of their confession defies 
questioning ; and yet they have always left me without 
an answer, when I have asked them how they would 
make up for the loss of that political influence which 
springs from a great colonial empire. People seem 
wholly to forget that a large number of young Enghsh- 
men, of all ranks, are pursuing military and pohtical 
careers in India ; they seem to be unaware how many 
sons of clergymen and officers, to whom no sphere of 
action offers itself within their island home, earn wealth 
in lucrative offices on the Ganges and the Indus, with 
the view of spending at home in a calm old age the 
outcome of then' earher years. They seem to leave 
entirely out of their reckoning the enormous number 
of merchants dwellmg m their great Asiatic dominions 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 423 

amidst the most extensive commercial interests, through 
whose hands Enghsh capital multiplies by millions. 
Those hberals are very short-sighted, who deem the 
possession of such a colony as India an indifferent or 
superfluous matter. That they should wish to see the 
greatness of their fatherland founded on the flourishing 
condition of hiland manufactures, and not on their do- 
minion over foreign peoples, can no longer be regarded 
as a view generally vahd m England, now that more 
than sixty milhons pounds sterling are laid out in 
Indian railway undertakmgs alone; for that neither 
manufacturing industry nor the enterprising spirit of 
English merchants can succeed, to any great extent, 
without the supportmg hand of Enghsh rule, is amply 
shown by the circumstances of British trade in Algiers, 
Central Asia, and other non-British territories. 

It is faulty views hke these which neutrahse all the 
advantages of Enghsh individuahsm in the presence of 
Eussian pohcy, which always acts with steadfast con- 
sistency. To these errors may be ascribed the fact 
that Russia, haviag grown up into a powerful rival ui 
a space of tune mcredibly short, is treading so close 
on the Achnies-heel of Great Britain. With the posi- 
tion she holds on the Aral and the Caspian Seas, after 
conquering the whole of the Caucasus, after her enor- 
mous successes in Central Asia, it would now be use- 
less to try and force back that giant power. What 
might with no great trouble have been attained twenty 
years ago, it is now far too late to attempt ; but if Eng- 



424 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

land would avoid the usual lot of commercial states, — 
the doom of Carthage, Venice, Genoa, Holland, and 
Portugal, — there is but one way left to her : a pohcy 
of stern watchfulness, a swift grasp of the measures 
still at her command. 

5. Advice to England for the purpose of 
averting the d anger. 

To think of moving out in open hostility to the grow- 
ing power of Russia, were now, on England's part, just 
as great an error as the strange inaction she has displayed 
for the last twenty-five years amidst all the occurrences 
beyond the Hindu- Kush. Russia will estabhsh her- 
self on the right bank of the Oxus, will absorb the 
three Khanats, and perhaps Chinese Tartary, will make 
everything Q^zbeg to acknowledge her supremacy. 
That can no longer be prevented ; but thus far and no 
farther should Englishmen allow their rivals to advance. 

All that hes between the Oxus and the Indus should 
remain neutral territory. Through her physical con- 
formation, through the warlike character of her mha- 
bitants, and specially through their great aptitude for 
diplomacy, Afghanistan would be altogether suited to 
form a military and political barrier against any pos- 
sible collision between the two giants. That country 
would cost the conqueror, coming whether from North 
or South, a tenfold harder struggle than did the Cau- 
casus. Besides, the possession would not for a long 
while make good the material advantage of an expen- 



RIVALEY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 425 

sive war; and although the continual disorders that 
prevail in the mountain-home of the Afghans may be 
of no advantage to either neighbour, still the danger 
is not so great as to justify any schemes of conquest 
on one side or the other. 

How, then, in case Russia continues her policy of 
aggression, may England secure the neutrality of Af- 
ghanistan? What must she do to set up with her in- 
fluence there a solid barrier, without coming forward 
as a conqueror? 

That is the work of a skilled diplomatic intercourse, 
the work of an uninterrupted alliance, carried on by 
agents, who, acquainted with the Afghan character, 
and eschewino; Eno;lish modes of thouo^ht, can conduct 
themselves as Asiatics. 

The same fault which Lord Auckland committed in 
1839, by his active interference in Afghan afiairs, that 
fault and one far greater still did his successors prove 
guilty of, through their utter withdrawal from the 
scene, through their strange indifference in respect of 
the concerns of the neighboming State. The English 
resemble a child which, after having once burnt itself 
at a fire, will not for a long time venture to draw near 
its warmth. The catastrophe of the Afghan campaign, 
the thirty millions sterling in costs, dwell even now, 
after a quarter of a century, with such fearful vivid- 
ness in the eyes of every Briton, that he trembles at 
the very thought of political influence beyond the 
Hindu- Kush. Have we not here two sharply-opposed 



426 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. 

extremes? First, armed to the teeth in support of 
the interests of a prince so little loved as Shah Sujah ; 
and then, after the annexation of the Pmijab, scarce 
willing to give one more thought to Kabul ! And why 
.should the frontier above Peshawar be so dangerous a 
barrier for every Englishman and European? If seve- 
ral thousands of Kakeries, Lohanies, Gilzies, and Yusuf- 
zies, yearly pass over the northern frontier of Hindos- 
tan, — some for mercantile purposes, others to graze 
their flocks, — why should British travellers not be al- 
lowed to venture over the Hmdu-Kush, let alone a 
few hours' journey beyond Peshawar? Afghan mer- 
chants drive a flourishing trade "svith Mooltan, Delhi, 
Lahore : why, from the English side, may not one 
mercantile firm or another betake itself for the same 
end to Kabul? 

In truth, this state of things has always astonished 
me ; the more so, when I heard that the officer whom 
Sir John Lawrence sent to Kabul to offer welcome to 
Shere Ali Khan had to be always escorted there by a 
strong detachment of troops, to guard himself from 
the rage of a fanatic population. This is surely a 
mode of proceedmg at once wrong and ridiculous, for 
giving Asiatics a lesson in European magnanimity and 
European love of justice. England, who has long 
dealt with the Asiatics after this fashion, resembles a 
person trying with all his might to make a blind man 
comprehend the beauty of one of Raphael's cartoons. 
In this respect Russia is far more practical. She knows 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 427 

that such proofs of magnanimity and humanity are^ 
only ridiculed by the Orientals ; that, so far from tak- 
ing the example to themselves, they misuse those proofs 
for their own special ends; and, instead of wastuig 
moral preachings on them, England would act shrewdly 
by helping herself to the same weapons, and treating 
Orientals in Oriental fashion. 

At the time when the martyrs ConoUy and Stoddart 
were pining m cruel imprisonment, out of which they 
were afterwards delivered only by the headsman's axe, 
there happened to be in British territory a number of 
Bokharians, Khokandies, and other Central Asiatics, 
by whose arrest the lot of the English officers might 
have been alleviated, and their deliverance from death 
assured. In such cases Eussia is wont to clear herself 
from the dilemma by the law of retaliation. England 
acts differently. She would play the high-minded 
part; and what has she gained by it? When I was 
in Bokhara, I heard how this very act of British gene- 
rosity had missed its mark. England, said the Bok- 
harians, dares not awaken the wrath of the Ameer of 
Bokhara : her weakness commands this moderation. 

Do the gentlemen in Calcutta imagine that the Af- 
ghans think otherwise? No; and they likewise say: 
protected by the might and greatness of Islam, our 
indigo and spice merchants, our camel-hirers, can ven- 
ture unharmed on British ground; whilst not one in- 
fidel soul dares show himself among us. 

The same unpardonable weakness did the Viceroy 



428 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

of India show in 1857, when he was sent by Lord 
Canning to Peshawai' to conclude, in conjunction with 
Edwardes, an offensive and defensive alhance against 
Persia with the then reio-nino; Dost Mohamed Khan. 
At that time the Afghans were hard pressed; they 
wanted arms and money: the grey-haired Barukzie 
chief, attended by his sons, betrayed this fact in every 
word; and yet his demands were fulfilled in every 
point, without his yielding in the least to any of Eng- 
land's leadmg claims. Eour thousand stand of arms, 
with bayonets, sabres, pouches, and twelve lakhs of 
rupees a year, were promised hun, so long as England 
was at war with Persia. Of this large sum they re- 
ceived, even after the .conclusion of peace at Paris, a 
considerable instalment; and yet the chief end of the 
negotiations at Kabul and Kandahar — ^the appointment 
of a permanent Enghsh representative — was not at- 
tained. Dost Mohamed Khan avowed, as Kaye tells 
us in his " History of the Sepoy War," that he would 
not take on himself the responsibihty of such a step ; 
that he could not protect English agents against Afghan 
fanaticism; that every step of theirs might compro- 
mise, &c., &c. I cannot comprehend how John Law- 
rence, one of the few men acquamted with Eastern 
character, could yield to the endearments of the grey 
Afghan wolf, — how he could believe those false appre- 
hensions. If even Dost Mahomed could say that an 
English mission might tarry in peace at Kandahar, 
why could it not fare as well in Kabul? The British 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 429 

commissioners were greatly in. the wrong if they doubted 
even for a moment the supreme power of the Afghan 
ruler. With a very little more persistency, the Eng- 
lish, who then appeared as helpers m need, might have 
obtained not two but several posts of embassy. The 
Afghans would soon have grown used to their presence, 
and the diplomatic alliance, once made easy, would 
have been maintained unbroken. 

In a semi-official article, which appeared in the 
Edinhurgh Review for January, 1867, Sir John Law- 
rence now strives to show how hard and vain it is to 
enter into diplomatic intercourse with neighbours so 
wild and turbulent as those who surround India on 
all sides. Still, I cannot understand why the Viceroy 
should not take example from Russia, who, with the 
same elements on her frontier, sends envoy after envoy, 
knows how to obtain for them respect and safety, and 
so keeps moving forward to her wished-for goal. Why 
does not England pursue, in this case, the same policy 
which she once began in Chma, Japan, and other 
Asiatic _ countries ? It seems to me that people are 
less convinced of the difficulty of carrying out such a 
purpose, than of the extreme remoteness of the conse- 
quent gain. Or are these gentlemen really unaware 
of the permanent support thus rearable, not only for 
Enghsh interests in Afghanistan, but even for the spe- 
cial welfare of the Afghans themselves ? 

Sir Henry Rawlmson's diplomatic bearing in Kan- 
dahar, which enabled him so long to maintain himself 



430 SKETCHES OE CENTRAL ASIA. 

there with his suite in the most difficult position, at a 
period the most critical, is a splendid proof that even 
the rudest Asiatics are not unmanageable. And if the 
said officer could accomplish so much in the threaten- 
ing attitude of a conqueror, what might not first have 
been attained through political tact and friendly per- 
suasion ? 

The tangible results of uninterrupted diplomatic in- 
tercourse would, if we mistake not, be : — 

1st. A greater impulse given to trade; for, as Eng- 
lish goods have long enjoyed a good name in Central 
Asia, Enghsh products, imported direct from England, 
could certainly drive similar but less-prized Russian 
products out of the market. At present this is natu- 
rally not the case : at this moment, in the bazaars of 
Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, and other places, there is 
much more sold of many Russian articles, — such as 
ironware and working tools, coarse cotton and hand- 
kerchiefs, — than of English ones; solely because the 
former, owing to the lower price at which they were 
first saleable, are not raised by the additional payments 
to so high a figure as the English goods, whose value, 
originally dear, is raised twofold in the transit. 
Moreover, in Bokhara, here and there in Khiva and in 
Karshi, Russian traders may be found who, secure m 
the energy of their government, can of course advance 
then' own interests better than foreign mercantile 
agents. In vain should we seek for a better apostle, 
a better pioneer for civilisation, than trade; in vain. 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 431 

for a better teacher to turn men to our own ways of 
thinking, than the silent bales of goods which are car- 
ried over from Europe ; and England, apart from her 
commercial interests, is bound, for the ends of huma- 
nity also, to help forward trade in Central Asia. 

2. The Afghans, who, under the name of Ingihs or 
Fermghi, have hitherto been acquainted with but one 
armed power, one conquest- seekmg neighbour, will 
easily, in the peaceful garb of diplomatic intercourse, 
in well-meaning counsels, accept the teaching of a bet- 
ter one. In the year 1808, when the Afghans had 
little fear of an English invasion, the ambassador, 
Mountstuart Elphinstone, with a numerous following, 
whose escort amounted to only four hundred Anglo- 
Indian soldiers, was well received throughout Afghan- 
istan, for fear and mistrust had as yet taken no root. 
Down to the beginning of this century the same state 
of things might be found in all parts of the Ottoman 
Empire. Euroj^ean and enemy were deemed identical 
things; but now, after our embassies and consulates 
have pushed themselves, spite of the Porte's reluctance, 
into many places, will Osmanlis and Arabs no longer 
cherish the same sort of views ? They have clearer no- 
tions about the generic term, "Feringhi," and know for 
certain that Russia, for instance, feels just as friendly 
to the Porte as England feels inimical ; that this govern- 
ment has one set of plans, the other another; and so 
on. Without consulates such a result could not have 
been attained. And so the Afghans, until they have 



432 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

been brought into nearer and peaceful intercourse with 
the Enghsh, will never understand what England or 
Russia may do for their weal or woes ; whose friendship 
will render them the more or the less service. 

3. The Afghans, most warlike of all Central Asiatics, 
might, with the powerful support of Enghsh counsels, 
easily be raised into a military power of some impor- 
tance. What the Instructeurs Militaires of their day 
accomplished in the army of Sultan Mahmood and 
Mehemed Ali Pasha; what Enghsh officers accom- 
plished with the troops of Abbas Mirza, — would be as 
nothing in comparison with the consequences of a simi- 
lar undertaking among the Afghans ; out of whom, so 
far as one may judge from the military bearmg and 
manoeuvruig of a Kabul regiment drilled by Sepoy de- 
serters, a regular army will very easily be formed. 
Such a result may also be attained with the fortresses 
of Herat and Kandahar, whose fortifications, in the 
event of their coming under the charge of a second 
Pottinger, would certainly prove a far harder prize for 
Russian besiegers than if they were given over to the 
warlike skill of Afghans alone. 

4. The prime gain, however, which we look for from 
a permanent agency is, that England, bemg accurately 
informed of proceedings in Central Asia, of the mili- 
tary and pohtical movements of Russia, will no longer 
be exposed to the danger of findmg herself suddenly 
surjDrised on one point or another, and, through the 
continual uncertainty m which she wavers touchmg 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND 433 

the true state of things, of being disabled from taking 
the right precautions. At this moment, the Viceroy 
maintains a few Moonshies without any official charac- 
ter in Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat; Moonshies, that 
is, scribes, and Mohamedans, who, being among other 
thmgs well paid, are engaged to furnish occasional 
news. Besides these, there are also spies, or secret 
emissaries, despatched in this or that direction on spe- 
cial conjunctures, who roam in the disguise of a mer- 
chant or a pilgrim through Turkestan, and furnish 
tidings of political events. Letting alone the fact that 
I regard both the former and the latter class as alike 
unfit for such an office, because they never enter in 
their memorandum-books anything but bazaar-reports 
and the pohtics of the caravan, I may, as one who has 
lived whole years among Orientals, be allowed to place 
the very smallest faith in those people. Do persons 
in Calcutta consider what Mohamedan fanaticism is; 
are they aware that no amount of gold will succeed in 
turnino: one Mussulman to the account of the Ferino-hie 
agamst another Mussulman? To all appearance these 
emissaries and spies will display the greatest diligence, 
the most reckless loyalty, the most forward zeal; and 
yet in the interior of Central Asia they will fulfil the 
commands of their order by squattmg on the self same 
carpet with those religious comrades, with whom they 
repair to one common mosque. On this point British 
statesmen will certainly not agree with me, though 
that is the very reason why they are so little acquainted 

28 



434 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

with what goes on in Central Asia, — why the absurdest 
stories spread through India into Europe, — and why 
they can regard the affairs of the Khanats in the light 
which Russian diplomacy has kindled for them. 

Far as I am from wanting to set up as a political 
advice-giver, I find that these unpretending counsels 
point out the only means whereby Afghanistan's neu- 
trality can be secured, and herself erected into a power- 
ful barrier against Russia's further progress in Central 
Asia. In view of so weighty a question as the posses- 
sion of the East Indies is for the greatness and con- 
tinuance of English power, it were too dangerous to 
seek a false protection in palliative measures. Political 
errors, however trifling, form in time so many links in 
one unbroken chain of disasters, — a chain which, pre- 
sently, the greatest struggles, the most clear-eyed 
statesmanship, may trouble themselves to break m 
vain. 

6. The General Interests of the Question. 

It still remains to answer the one farther question, 
why we cannot look with indifference on the danger for 
Enghsh interests from Russian ascendancy, and for 
what special reason it is that the dechne of England's 
power seems to us so detrimental, that we see m Rus- 
sia's undue influence a bar to the advance of the spirit 
of our age. 

The answer is very simple : Russia was, is, and long 
will be Asiatic. The cheering prospect that the over- 



RIVALEY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 435 

grown body of Russian power will, according to the 
laws of nature, necessarily break up hereafter into two 
or more sections, and the danger that threatens us be 
thereby lessened, is one which we cannot for a moment 
entertain. We need only fix our eyes on the character 
of pohtical life in Russia, its social circumstances, the 
relation of the people towards the upper castes of the 
governing circle, the general state of popular culture, 
and the modes of popular thought, to see how every- 
thing there is Asiatic, aye, wildly Asiatic in tendency ; 
and how little, in spite of the long struggle after Euro- 
pean civilisation, has yet been taken in, to speak com- 
paratively, from what we call European or Western 
life. Without repeating the well-worn adage, " Scrape 
a Russian and you will lay bare a Tartar," it is none 
the less impossible, whether from personal experience, 
or the reports of later, and to Russia most friendly 
travellers, to help acknowledging how much may yet 
be found, on the Neva and in other large Russian 
towns, of that surface civilisation which many Asiatic 
governments bring successfully to bear on short-sighted 
Europe. No doubt this pretence of civiHsation suc- 
ceeds better in Petersburg, wielded by a government 
containino; a strono^ admixture of Christian and Euro- 
pean elements, than in Cairo, Constantinople, and Te- 
heran. The Russian noble, in appearance a finished 
European, thoroughly versed in our language, manners 
and modes of thought, will certainly cut a better figure 
than the semi-European EfFendi on the Bosphorus, or 



436 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

the Persian Mirza. A government which draws towards 
itself, at a cost so heavy, so many scientific and artistic 
forces, which has lately advanced with so much zeal in 
founding schools, universities, scientific associations, 
which hires persons in Europe to blazon forth the pro- 
gress of Russian civilisation, — can assuredly reap for it- 
self greater credit than the Porte or the Persian ministry, 
which, engaged in upholdmg their weakly existence, can- 
not bestow so much attention on the needful pageantry. 

No wonder, then, if to a superficial glance Russia 
seems more European, more imbued with the spirit of 
our civilisation, and can easily win the sympathy of 
those who would love her with all their might. But 
if once we try impartially to hft uj) the outer covering 
and peep into the inside of the great Russian commu- 
nity, what shall we behold ? 

Great, indeed, is the disenchantment that awaits us 
at every step, when we seek to discover in the majority 
of the Russian people those traces of progress, which 
ought to exist according to the statements of Russian 
hirelings in the European press. The Englishman who, 
in 1865, in a pamphlet called " Russia, Central Asia, 
and British India," sought to indoctrinate the Eng- 
lish pubUc with the same idea, and, inferring the com- 
mencement of many reforms from the bearing of such 
innovations as slave emancipation, placed such a con- 
version in the foreground, though even Russian writers 
like Herzen and Dolgorukoff are doubtful of it, would 
in all likelihood have thought very diiFerently, if he 



RIVALEY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 437 

had drawn the parallel, not between persons of intelli- 
,gence, but between the Russian people and the Asiatics. 
On that immense frontier where Russia touches Asia, 
we shall everywhere find the Russians standing on a 
markedly lower level of development, and in freedom 
of manners far behind those Asiatic peoples to whom 
we would impart the advantages of our younger Euro- 
pean as compared with their old Asiatic civilisation. 
Alexander Michie, a traveller from Pekin to Peters- 
burg, and so great a friend of Russia that he calls 
Siberia a second Paradise, and deems the exiled Poles 
enviably fortunate, cannot, however, help proclaiming 
aloud the superiority of the Chinese to the Russians, 
wherever he finds the two holding intercourse with each 
other. And this is the case not only in Maimadshin 
and Kiachta, but even among the Mussulmans. The 
Russian, as a northerner, will display more energy 
than the Asiatic cle pur sang ; but his remarkably 
dirty exterior, his drunkenness, his religion bordering 
on fetishism, his servility, his crass ignorance, his 
coarse, unpolished manners, — are characteristics which 
make him show very poorly against the supple, courtly, 
keen-siffhted Eastern. Just as I have heard a culti- 

o 

vated Moslem Tadjik in Bokhara speak with contempt 
of the uncivilised Russians, whom he set above the 
Kirghis only, so in all likehhood will every Chinaman, 
every Persian in Transcaucasia, and eveiy well-educated 
Tartar in Kazan, say the same. What can these na- 
tions, then, learn from Russia? 



438 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

Can her forms of government awaken any envy in 
Asiatic races? The corruptibility of the placemen, 
their tyrannical and arbitrary conduct under Nicholas, 
the mass of more than fifty milhon peasants who occu- 
pied the lowest of all positions beside the caste of place- 
men and nobles, — all this really is not particularly 
alluring for those among whom the wildest autocratic 
institutions are yet combined with patriarchal mildness. 

Yes, it is hard, not only at present, but even in the 
distant future, to discover in Russia's craving for con- 
quests the prospect of a profitable change in the social 
life of the Asiatic peoples, a change in the direction of 
European ideas. If we ask ourselves what has become 
of the Tartars, who for more than two hundred years 
have dwelt under Russian protection; what of the 
great number of Siberian tribes, — such as Bashkirs, 
Voguls, Tzeremisses, Votjaks, — which have been or 
are on the point of being absorbed into the Russian 
nation, must we not everywhere regard the Russian- 
ising as the chief result ? 

Russianising is naturally a step from Asia towards 
Europe, as the government of an Alexander II., so far 
as it has gone, may even be called a turning-point: 
and yet who will blame us, if to this wearisome pro- 
cess, whose results seem always doubtful, we prefer 
the English scheme of civilisation, which has at this 
moment such splendid and surprising results to show 
in India, and wherever else it deals with Asiatics? 

That the peoples of broad India, of the land which 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 439 

has been the cradle and the fountain-head of that 
Asiatic civihsation which we show up and fight against 
as unfit to live, hold very persistently to their old 
usages, to their own ways of thinking, no one will 
dispute; and yet how great a change has come over 
India, even since the beginning of the last century! 
Methinks, even the worst enemies of Great Britain 
will be unable to deny that the caste-system of the 
Hindoos and their many inhuman customs have suf- 
fered a mighty blow from English influence. No one 
can deny that these wild Asiatics, in spite of all their 
stiff-necked bearing, are advancing with wonderful 
strides on the path of our civilisation. We find at this 
moment in India a great number of people thoroughly 
convinced of the blessed influence of their conqueror : 
numerous schools and institutions spread the hght of 
the new world abroad through all classes of the popu- 
lation. Not only are there many well versed in the 
Enghsh tongue; they also take an active part in our 
scientific discussions, are enrolled as members of learned 
European societies, and sometimes even take up the 
pen to emulate the writers of the West. Rajah Rada- 
kant Deb Bahadur, Maharajah Kali Krishna Bahadur, 
Baboo Rayendra Lala Mitra, a good many pundits 
(priests), and other learned gentlemen, may be found 
on the list of French, German, and Anglo- Asiatic so- 
cieties, and are known in distinguished circles by their 
works. Strong in their own sense of nationality, the 
Hindoos are now better acquainted with their language. 



440 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

history and philosophy, than ever they were in the 
days of their inland princes. Societies are formed, as 
in England, for the extirpation of certain prejudices, 
for doing away with so many shameful habits and cus- 
toms, for the advancement of social intercourse; and 
if we consider how much the reading world increases 
day by day, how large a circle has been procured from 
among the natives for such Hindustani papers as the 
Hirkara Bengdla ("Bengal Messenger"), the Suheili 
Panjdbi ("Punjaub Star"), the Audh Akbar ("Oudh 
News "), Khairkah Panjdbi ("Punjaub Wellwisher "), 
and how greatly the press is rising day by day into a 
powerful factor of Europeanism, we shall be obliged 
to own that England's subject races stand, in. respect 
of culture, not only above their yoke-fellows in Russia, 
but even above many of the Russians themselves. 

If to the above-named unfitness of Russia for civi- 
lising India we superadd the important circumstance 
that Russia, in thus absorbing half the world, and 
blending miany milhons of Asiatics into her own body, 
presents herself in an attitude of powerful menace, not 
to Great Britain only, but to all Europe as well, we shall 
find this immense predominance more hurtful to our 
own existence than advantageous to the leading Tartar 
races of Asia. Russophobia, we are told, is a foolish 
crotchet ; and I am wilhng to think so myself. Still, 
if we contemplate the mighty influence of the Russian 
two-headed eagle in all parts of Asia; if we reflect, 
that through its position on the Hindu Kush the court 



EIVALEY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 441 

of St. Petersburg will solve, in its own favour, the 
Eastern question on the Bosphorus, it is hard to feel 
perfect peace of mind with regard to the future destiny 
of our own hemisphere. The diplomacy of to-day, 
which pays more homage to fashion than to good sense, 
makes merry enough with Napoleon's prophecy regard- 
ing Cossack rule in Europe. But people forget how 
much may be accomplished with our present means of 
communication by a power which will extend from 
Kamshatka to the Danube, or perhaps to the shore of 
the Adriatic, — from the icy zones of the North Sea to 
the burning banks of the Irawaddy. Visionary as it may 
seem to many, it is in nowise impossible that some hun- 
dred thousands of Asia's wildest horsemen may readily 
follow the summons of such a power into the midmost 
heart of Europe. In the beginmng of this century the 
possibdity of such an inroad, a la Djinghis Khan and 
Taimur, was shown by the Don Cossacks on the banks of 
the Seine. And why might this not be repeated now-a- 
days, with railroads and steamers at their disposal? 
Our European war-science may overcome this savage 
power: no member of the House of Romanoff could 
long play among us the part of a Djinghis or a Taimur. 
Yet a struggle of that sort, however momentary, would 
evolve mournful issues; and it is now a matter of 
pressing need to keep off the approach of such an 
event, while measures of precaution are still within 
our reach. 

Apart, however, from these far-reaching calculations, 

29 



^42 SKETCHES OF CENTRAL ASIA. 

can any one doubt that England's power and greatness 
are of more advantage than Russian supremacy to the 
general interests of Europe ? England has many foes, 
or perhaps we should rather call them, enviers. Cer- 
tain voices in the continental press will always, under 
the sway of passion, discover in her conduct selfish- 
ness, greed, and pride. Enthusiasts will see the blind- 
est materialism in every move; and yet people must 
be bhnd and carried away by prejudice, not to see the 
triumphs won by English greatness, English capital, 
and English endurance, for our civilisation and our 
scientific researches. Is it not England alone, whose 
powerful flag has opened Eastern Asia to our trade? 
Who else but English travellers have been driven by 
a daring spirit of inquiry into the farthest regions, in 
order to enrich our geographical and ethnographical 
knowledge ; and what happens on the Thames, what 
in every other town of that ever- stirring and busy 
island-realm ? Do those haughty spirits who are con- 
tinually finding fault with English materialism, ever 
consider that these brokers, in spite of their lively 
interest in trade and money-making, still render the 
greatest service in the advancement of science, in the 
enlightenment of the world? What country is there, 
in which Government gives its millions so readily for 
an institution like the British Museum ; where a hun- 
dred thousand pounds is laid out with so free a hand 
on the mere catalogue of a library, as lately happened 
in London ; where Government fits out ships and 



RIVALRY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 443 

expeditions in quest of an imperilled traveller, as they 
have lately done in behalf of Livingstone ? 

Yes; in spite of all her faults, from which no 
country is free, we must allow that England, whether 
in consequence of the materialism thus strongly cen- 
sured, or of the thirst for power so often laid to her 
charge, anyhow stands at the top of European civiHsa- 
tion. For if France and Germany furnish indis- 
pensable aid in diffusing the light of our higher 
civilisation, still, the chief agent is England alone. 
With her flag emerges the day-dawn of a fairer era in 
every zone, in every part of the world. What the 
enviers of Great Britain tell us of her tyrannical 
behaviour, is mainly an untruth. It is not at the 
writmg- table and m easy arm-chairs, but in the coun- 
tries of the Asiatic world, that these sentimental 
fault-finders should inform themselves about England's 
influence; and if they saw how the march of our 
western civilisation drives out the vices of the old 
Asiatic, how it seeks to upraise the downtrodden 
rights of man, and freeing miUions from the absolute 
sway of a single tyrant, leads them on towards a 
better future, then assuredly they could not remain 
indifferent to England's influence in foreign lands. 

And would it not be grievous, if Muscovite ascen- 
dancy should do harm to such a State? The strong 
will of a free people governs on the Thames; on the 
Neva the ambition of an Asiatic dynasty, a system of 
government so framed that its capacity for reform in 



444 SKETCHES OF CENTEAL ASIA. 

the future remains doubtful, while its great pernicious- 
ness in the present is all the more assured. 

Yes ; only in Russia's approach towards India, that 
Achilles-heel of British interests, may we discover the 
infallible sign of serious danger for England. A 
greater struggle than that which the British Lion had 
to encounter in the south with France, for the estab- 
lishment of its power on the Ganges, it has still to 
look for in the north. The first-named foe, weaker in 
numbers and endurance, had but a small fleet, and a 
sea at that time unnavigable behind her back, and 
could easily be overcome. The last-named, on the 
contrary, will be supported by an unbroken chain of 
fortresses, garrisons, guarded roads; her weapons are 
a boundless ambition, the bhnd devotion of millions 
of subjects, and the sympathy of rude neighbour- 
states. Victory over such a power will be far less 
easy, and the consequences of defeat far greater. 

Be on thy guard, therefore, Britannia ! For if the 
star of thine ancient fortune should now begin to 
wane, then will that verse — 

" Tlie nations not so blest as tliee 

Must in their turn to tyrants fall, 
Wliile thou shalt flourish great and free, 

The dread and envy of them all," 

— have to remain unread in the different zones. 



Lewis & Son, Printers, Swan Buildings, Moorgate Street, London. 



nu 1 aiUAQ 



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